PASCHAL MESSAGE OF  HIS GRACE MATTHEW,
Bishop of Sourozh, temporary Administrator of
the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA and Canada

Beloved in the Lord, all-honourable fathers, brothers, and sisters!

I cordially congratulate you on the Greatest Feast of the Radiant Resurrection of Christ and greet you with the all-joyous Paschal greeting:

CHRIST IS RISEN!

The long-awaited holy days of the universal triumph of the Church of God have come, and the words of the Easter troparion resound again and again as a victorious hymn: “Christ is risen from the dead trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!”

There is no more death that can separate us from God because the great Divine Love sacrifices the Only Begotten Son for the sins of the whole world, so that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

The incomprehensible life-giving Divine mystery reveals its salvific power to the entire human race through suffering, death on the cross and Resurrection. “For our sake, the Lord became a man,” writes St. Gregory the Theologian, “and assumed the image of a slave, and was led to death for our iniquities. This is what the Savior did, who, as God, could save with a single act of will, for with one command He created everything.” By sacrificing Himself for the sins of the world, the sinless Lord opened the way for the mankind to the immortality.

The Resurrection of Christ illumined the whole world with a radiant and saving light and became a source of the never-ending joy and inner peace, and today, filled with the Divine light of Christ’s Resurrection, we strive to sanctify all our thoughts, deeds, feelings, and our whole lives with it. The bright Easter joy shines in our hearts, filling them with joy and hope, strengthening faith in the triumph of life, goodness, peace, and love.

Sharing the Easter triumph with you, I prayerfully wish you, honorable fathers, dear brothers and sisters, spiritual and bodily health, good spirits, a prosperous and peaceful life! May the good and joyful news of the Resurrection always sanctify our path of life and the light of Christ’s Glory, shining from the Life-giving tomb, fill our hearts with rays of all-conquering Divine love!

CHRIST IS RISEN INDEED!

Matthew

Bishop of Sourozh
temporary Administrator of the Patriarchal
parishes in the USA and Canada

The Pascha of Christ,
2024, London