EASTER PASTORAL

The Pascha of the Lord challenges us to be faithful

To the people of God of the Holy Ukrainian Orthodox Church beyond the borders of Ukraine:

May the peace and grace of our risen Lord Jesus Christ be with you! Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!

Throughout the world in this year of the Ukrainian Orthodox Family - the second prior to the beginning of the new millennium of God's love - in lands where those who have been baptized and clothed in Christ dwell, the joyful good news, which is the cornerstone of our faith, resounds from fervent lips and depth of heart: "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and to those in the tombs, He granted life!"

Pascha - the Great Day - arrives yearly and brings new and fresh grace to the believers. With its arrival, we are elevated to new heights and endowed with courage in time of testing and given access to new possibilities. This Feast of Feasts assures us, as people of faith and prayer, that physical death is not a finality, that the casket and grave are not our final resting place. This feast convinces us that, just as Christ rose after His physical death for our salvation, we shall also rise to a new life.

This feast reminds us who have been enlightened that we bear upon ourselves the seal of the Holy Spirit. Thus, despite the problems that exist and test our steadfastness of faith, we are united by that same faith in Christ which united the apostles of Christ and those who came to Christ as a result of the graceful preaching of the Gospel in Ukraine by Andrew the First-Called Apostle.

Convinced by this, we are obliged before our Heavenly Father and history to strive for that perfection which the Savior, the Son of God, requires of His closest friends. (Matthew 5-48).

The Pascha of the Lord, in its spiritual beauty, reminds us of Him Who voluntarily ascended the cross and underwent unspeakable torments out of love for all humanity. The Pascha of the Lord reminds us that in the Church entrusted by Christ to our care, we all fulfill our mission in a variety of ministries undertaken for the salvation and sanctification of ourselves and our fellow man, all of whom reflect the image and likeness of God.

The Pascha of the Lord focuses on our Christian calling and challenges us to be faithful to our extraordinary vocation, to be the apostles of this and the coming millennium. In this feast we behold Christ, resplendent in the radiant light of the Resurrection, and are challenged to be bearers of that light of Christ. We are challenged to hold fast to the Gospel of life and to bear witness to Him as Orthodox Ukrainians in a spiritually apathetic world and we "stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the Gospel" (Phillipians 1:27).

On this solemn day we, the archpastors of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church beyond Ukraine - a nation filled with the light of Christ's Gospel, proclaim to you the joyful message of Christ's Resurrection - a reality that cannot be erased. We remind you that the sanctification which comes through that Resurrection thrives. This sanctification must be manifest in our words and deeds so as to sanctify others. The Pascha of the Lord guarantees to us that Christ the Lord, to Whom this world pays so little attention, accepts our sincere repentance and grants us forgiveness of sins. The Pascha of the Lord assures us that Christ the Lord - the foundation of our hope - implants in us a sense of dignity, confirms our sanctity, and grants us genuine peace and unity with our Heavenly Father and one another.

In celebrating the Lord's Pascha, which sanctifies all, we embrace in the love of the risen Lord, the archpastors, pastors and sons and daughters of Christ's Church in Ukraine, and assure them of our love and prayers.

We greet you, the clergy, monastic and people of God of the eparchies of the Holy Ukrainian Orthodox Church, with the joyful and encouraging words of the Paschal hymn ascribed to a father of the Church, St. John of Damascus: "Shine in splendor ... for the glory of the Lord is upon you ...!" As we celebrate this day, let us exemplify faithfulness to our holy calling. All of us, in Ukraine and beyond its borders, like the Apostles and first Christians, since we understand Whom we serve, must abandon our personal ambition and pretension. Enlightened by the grace of the Lord's Pascha, we must concentrate all our efforts on spreading the Holy Gospel among all people.

Receive once more this joyful news of Christ's Resurrection. Having beheld Christ the King - the Source of all good things - rejoice, celebrate and pray for us. May the blessing of the risen Christ, the Son of God, abide in and with you.

Christ is risen! Indeed He is risen!

ÝWasyly
Metropolitan
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada

ÝConstantine
Metropolitan
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. and Diaspora

ÝJohn
Archbishop
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada

ÝAntony
Archbishop
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A.
Ruling Bishop of Australia and New Zealand

ÝVsevolod
Archbishop
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A.

ÝYurij
Bishop
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada

ÝIoan
Bishop
Ukrainian Orthodox Church in England and Western Europe

ÝJeremiah
Bishop
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Latin America

Given in the year of our Lord 1999 on the Feast of Pascha.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, April 11, 1999, No. 15, Vol. LXVII

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