„While ye have light, believe in the light,
that ye may be the children of light.”
(John 12, 36)
Your Graces the arch-pastors, all-honourable priests and deacons,
God-loving monks and nuns, dear brothers and sisters:
Christ is Risen!
We experience great joy of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ on this most wonderful and holy day. The light and mercy of God is poured onto the world. The entire creation is participating in the glorious holiday. The darkness was scattered, death defeated, the Light came out of the tomb, and the Church in the Paschal night appeals to you: “Come and take light”!
Come to receive the risen Christ, come to take light from His Light, come to take truth, wisdom, and love from the Truth, Wisdom and Love that He gives to the world. Not the light of the candles is the one we are preaching about. The Light of the Resurrection is not limited to the light of the candles. Jesus Christ is the Light of the world that overcame darkness.
The truth has defeated death, lie, and slyness. The love melted wickedness, hostility, and revenge. This is a great miracle and faith of our life.
Through the Resurrection of our Lord, the world that lived in darkness received the guarantee of its Resurrection and the promise of the life eternal. We are starting a new life in Christ now, a life full of light and holy love.
We have been working to purify our souls in the Sacrament of Confession during the Great Lent, and we received the Lord’s Body and Blood that releases us all from the dwelling of death and determines the road to the Kingdom of His glory.
The Resurrection of Jesus gives us certainty that our life will continue. We no longer die as if we were condemned to eternal death, but we remain in the awaiting of the universal Resurrection. Death lost its power. We will all rise with the power of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who defeated death.
Accordingly, we need to prepare in this life for the eternity in Christ. He who seeks and wants God in this life, will experience the joy of uniting with Him. He who seeks spiritual food here, on earth, will have God Himself to feed him in the eternity. He who respects and follows His teaching, will be greeted and received by the Lord. He who preaches and teaches about the Light, about Christ, will find light.
Similarly, he who denied, betrayed, crucified Him, will rise alike, but the Resurrection will bring him to a strange place, where there is no God.
He who denied the light will have darkness. And how shall we avoid today the darkness and sin that separate us from Christ, how can we stay with the Lord and enter the unspoken light of the Resurrection? Doubtlessly, living within His Holy Church that He redeemed with the cost of His Blood, giving Himself for it (Ephesians 5, 25), sanctifying and cleansing it, and whose head and foundation the Lord Himself is.
The Resurrection of the Lord is proof of His presence in every feast, in every day in the life of the praying Church: “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28, 20).
That is why, in this paschal period, as well as in all days of our life, let us stay in the right-faithful Holy Church, where we receive spiritual strengthening and where the spiritual joy increases, because it is in the Church that we are illuminated by the Risen Christ.
Beloved sons and daughters of the Church,
May the Feast of the Resurrection of the Lord cast on light, grace, and rightfulness onto all people’s hearts. Let us share peace and joy with the people around us, by word and by action, not hesitating to help those in need and suffering, in sickness, sadness, and pain. Let us show love and understanding to our neighbour, for only this way shall we see God.
In these days of the Resurrection of Christ, addressing to the church-goers from within the country and from abroad, I urge you with the hymn of the feast: “Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ,
worship the Holy Lord Jesus”, to change our lives, becoming forgiving and peaceful, praying and merciful, loving and doing good acts, as for us all Christ is Risen!
Indeed He is Risen!
With arch-pastoral blessings,
VLADIMIR
METROPOLITAN OF CHISINAU AND ALL MOLDOVA
Resurrection of the Lord,
Year of Salvation 2018,
Chisinau