Christ is risen!
Dear brothers and sisters, on this radiant and saving day, I wholeheartedly congratulate you on the feast of Christ’s Resurrection!
Today I would like to share a few thoughts that speak especially deeply to my heart at this time. The past several years, and indeed our present time as well, have become for many of us a period of difficult spiritual trials. The events taking place in the world, anxieties, sorrows, wounds, public turmoil, and unceasing tension so easily push a person toward irritation, judgment, inner hardening, and a life governed by passions rather than by the Gospel.
And so, in such moments, one understands with particular clarity how difficult it is to remain on the right path, and how easy it is to lose it by yielding to human thoughts, fears, and passions. Yet precisely in the most difficult circumstances of life, prayer and that quiet, invisible voice of God have always remained my support—a voice that cannot be heard with the ears or read merely with the eyes, but which is heard by the heart. It is something that is not conveyed outwardly, yet truly lives in the spiritual depth of the human person.
Holy Scripture tells us simply and perfectly: “God is love” (1 John 4:8). And it is no accident that the Lord Himself gave us the two greatest commandments: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37–39). It is precisely love for God and love for our neighbor, compassion, mercy, and the ability to forgive that must become the foundation of our lives.
But how often man forgets these great and yet simple truths. How easy it is to remember our personal grievances. How easy it is to hold on to sorrow, injustice, the words and actions of others. How easy it is to let hardness enter the heart and begin to live not by love, but by reaction to everything happening around us. And how difficult, by contrast, it is to preserve peace, to see in another person the image of God, not to submit to the bitterness of the day, and not to become a prisoner of another’s will, another’s falsehood, another’s hatred.
And that is why the words of the Apostle speak so powerfully to me: “You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men” (1 Corinthians 7:23). And likewise the words of the Savior Himself: “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). True freedom is born not from self-will, not from anger, not from serving earthly passions and human opinions, but from abiding in Christ, in His truth, in His love, and in His righteousness.
Very often I catch myself thinking how difficult it is to strive for spiritual perfection, and how much more natural it is for fallen man to live by the memory of pain rather than by hope; by reproach rather than by mercy; by condemnation rather than by love. That is why the words of the evening prayer are so close to my heart: “Help me to do Your will.” In these words is the whole truth about man: not to do what passion, self-love, or momentary irritation dictate, but to ask God for the strength to live as one ought.
And here it is especially important to remember another apostolic instruction: “bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do” (Colossians 3:13). Without forgiveness there is no peace. Without mercy there is no spiritual maturity. Without love there is no true Christian life.
Even in moments of despair, even in moments of inner weakness, even when a person feels most acutely his own frailty and nothingness, the Pascha of Christ again and again returns us to the chief foundation of our hope: “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God” (Job 19:25–27). For the Christian, this is not an abstract idea, but a living hope stronger than fear, stronger than sorrow, and stronger than death itself.
And so the words of the Song of Songs sound with particular depth in these days: “for love is as strong as death” (Song of Songs 8:6). And indeed, only love conquers death, only love heals the human person, only love restores to the heart true freedom, purity, and the ability to be with God.
Therefore, as we meet this great and holy feast of Pascha amid our present circumstances, I wholeheartedly call upon all of us to live in love, goodness, and peace; not to yield to hardness of heart; not to allow malice, resentment, and hostility to take possession of our souls; and to remember that in Christ are our hope, our freedom, and our life. For, in the words of the Apostle, “Christ is all and in all” (Colossians 3:11).
May the Risen Lord bless you, your families, your homes, and all your good endeavors. May He grant peace to the heart, strength to the soul, wisdom to the mind, and the power to walk in the way of light, truth, and love. And may this new Paschal season become for each of us not merely a time of outward celebration, but a time of true renewal of life in Christ.
Christ is risen!
