Christ is Risen! Χριστός ἀνέστη! Хрїстóсъ воскрéсе! المسيح قام! حقا قام!
Great and Holy Pascha
At the heart of our faith is this simple but profound message: Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. This message, when it makes its home in our hearts, changes everything about us. Our lives no longer revolve round us, but they centre on Jesus Christ our Saviour and Lord. Our small concerns of ambition, power, status, smart cars, big homes and flashy clothing begin (and then continue) to seem pointless as we become ever more wrapped up in The Lord and His mission.
The Gospel is seen to be an act of purest Love, infectious Love and joy filled Love. Politicking, elitism and religiosity and our petty rules and acts that bolster our feelings of superiority (which are often so very unkind and unloving) fall to one side as with new eyes we see everyone as our sisters and brothers and everything as a precious gift from God. Every person becomes precious to us: every person! Those living, those departed, those yet to be born, those who love us and those who hate us all become swept up in this Love that begins to grow and mature in us. We begin to thank God for the good fortune of others and feel the pain of those who suffer. Every good thing becomes our property (perhaps looked after by another) so we can walk along the Way without having to gather more than we need. When we look and we see evil things happening we are led to repentance and not judgement. We love, we pray, we forgive. We do not condemn other people to hell but we pray for our enemies, for those that hate us: asking our bountiful God to shower them with every blessing and eternal life.
With this in mind please continue to pray for the kidnapped bishops Metropolitan Paul of Aleppo and Bishop John of Aleppo, for all the suffering people of Syria (and indeed of a huge swathe of lands from North Africa to Pakistan and beyond) where people of all ages and backgrounds suffer terribly. These are people who will have to live together again one day.
Pray for each other and love each other.
May our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ bring His Resurrection to every nation and person!