Beloved brethren,
CHRIST IS RISEN!

 

“A sacred Pascha has been revealed to us today,
a Pascha which has opened for us the gates of Paradise,
a Pascha which sanctifies all the faithful.”

 

The holy and radiant feast of the Resurrection of the Lord is not merely an anniversary, a tradition, or an emotional climax. It is the center of our faith, the heart of the Church, the beginning and the horizon of our life.

 

Pascha means passage. A historical passage, as with the Hebrews from the slavery of Egypt to the Promised Land. But also a mystical and existential passage:
from darkness to light, from mourning to joy, from death to life.

 

It is the passage from the “It is finished” of the Cross to the “He is risen; He is not here” of the empty Tomb; from the earthquake of Great Friday to the trembling wonder of the Resurrection; from the despair of human abandonment to the peace of divine presence.

 

The Resurrection of Christ shatters the gates of Hades and throws open the doors of Paradise. Thus, the possibility of sanctification is offered to all:
“A Pascha which sanctifies all the faithful!”

My brethren,

Faith in the Risen Christ is not a theory, nor a cultural identity. It is the deepest need of man and the most essential choice of his life. Yet this faith is called to become life itself—to be transformed into the “first fruits of another life,” into a new way of existence, with the perspective of eternity.

 

Our Church is the Church of the Resurrection. She lives from the reality of the empty tomb and is nourished by the certainty that death has been conquered. Therefore, the word of the Lord remains unshaken:
“He who believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live.”

 

Death is no longer an end, but a passage.
It is not destruction, but a beginning.
It is not a dead end, but a gateway to life.

 

And not only in the future. Christ grants us even now the experience of life:
“He who believes in Me… rivers of living water shall flow.”

 

The faithful person no longer fears death, overcomes sin, and becomes himself a source of life for others.

 

And yet, my brethren, there is a great danger: to live Pascha outwardly and lose its inner meaning.
To limit ourselves to customs, to lights, to festive tables, to fleeting joys.

 

The joy of a worldly Pascha is temporary: it fades with the candles, it ends with the meal, it is forgotten in daily life.
It is fragile, like the shells of red eggs.

 

But the joy of the true Pascha is inexhaustible.
It does not end, it does not fade, it is never exhausted.
It is resurrectional joy—eternal and unending.

 

And this joy is not found outside us, but within us.
It is found where Christ dwells.

 

Therefore, I beseech you and exhort you as a father:
on this night of the Resurrection, let us not leave Christ in the church.

 

Let us not take only the light in our hands, but let us take Christ into our hearts.

 

Let us remain near Him as much as we can, let us listen to the Resurrection Gospel, let us taste the joy of the Church.

 

And when we return to our homes, let us not carry only the candle, but let us bring with us the light of the Resurrection.

 

Let us place Him in our life, in our daily routine, in our relationships, in our struggles.

 

Then and only then will Christ dispel the darkness, soften sorrow, and transform our life.

 

The Resurrection is not only an event of the past.
It is the power of the present and the hope of the future.
And it can and desires to become our own Pascha.

 

Beloved brethren,
from the depths of my heart I wish you many blessed years, filled with the grace of the empty tomb, illumined by the light of the Risen One, and truly resurrected.

 

And I invite you all, with one heart and one voice, together with the whole Church, with the Saints and the faithful of all ages, to proclaim with strength:

 

CHRIST IS RISEN!
TRULY HE IS RISEN!

 

With Paschal wishes
and much love in the Risen Christ,
Fr. Romanos