The Paschal Epistle

of His Grace Iov, Bishop of Kashira,

Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in Canada

Христос Воскресе! Christ is Risen! 

Christ is Risen!

Congratulations to you, reverend fathers, dear brothers and sisters, with the great and Holy Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ! In liturgical chants this extraordinary Day is called “the Holiday of all holidays and the Celebration of all celebrations” (Paschal Canon. Ode 8, irmos)!

Today an inextinguishable Easter candle is brightly lit worldwide! Today heavenly angels rejoice and praise the Risen Christ along with us! Today in our churches we all breathe the air of Eternity and immortality!

The Holy Orthodox Church guided us towards this radiant night of Resurrection through the difficult path of Lent. The Apostle Paul writes: “If we be dead with Him [Christ], we shall also live with Him” (2 Tim. 2:11). To die with Him on the cross means to crucify “the flesh with the affections and lust…” (Galatians 5:24). Only the one who “yesterday was co-crucified with Christ, today is being co-resurrected with Him” – says one of the Easter hymns (Ode 3, troparion 2).

Venerable Justin of Serbia wonderfully put it in this way: “People condemned God to death, but He, through His resurrection, blessed them with immortality. For all received blows, insults, and for being crucified, He pays back by benediction and life eternal.” “A man is truly born not when his mother gives him birth, – says Saint Justin, – but when he starts to believe in the Risen Lord. The Resurrection of Christ – is the actual Mother of all Christians! The Mother of the immortal”!

The festive Easter days will fly away very quickly. But we always should keep Easter in our hearts! Venerable Justin says: “It’s amazing! Four Gospels of Jesus Christ, Our Lord, are collected in four words: “Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!”In every word there is a Gospel, and in the four Gospels – the whole point of both our life and of existence of the universe itself!”

We can clearly see what the world is now: cold and cynical, thinking only about self-profit and, at the same time, standing on the edge of the abyss of sin and death! The Lord tells us: “Believe in the light, that ye may be the children of the Light” (John 12, 36). Our Holy Church teaches us to bring love to where there was hate, to bring humility and meekness where there was only anger! Nowadays it should be considered as a great act – if one has loving faith in Resurrected Christ!

Let the faith in Risen Christ always be our priceless treasure, let the love towards God and other people be our real spiritual compass!

Let us pray that God, Our Lord, help us to add to our daily life the Easter light of love, which may enlighten those who are still on their way to meeting with the Risen Christ!

With Easter greetings and episcopal blessing,

Job, Bishop of Kashira, Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in Canada.

 Holy Pascha (Easter), April the 20, 2014, Edmonton.