April 1, 2003
The Significance of Christ`s Resurrection
     Our transition from the period of the Great and Holy Fast to the season of Pascha constitutes a dynamic movement of the soul along a steady stream of joy and grace. This month of April, our spiritual journey along the sacred path of Lent culminates in the joyous Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This miraculous event is the cornerstone of our Christian faith, through which we have been born anew to a living hope and to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading (I Peter 1:3-4). Our struggles to draw closer to Christ through prayer and fasting are met by His loving embrace. Through His Resurrection, the grip of death upon humanity is utterly vanquished, the gift of salvation is emptied out freely unto all humanity, and lasting joy is made known once and for all unto all the world.

     The joy of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is a profound reality, the effects of which are healing, restorative, and transforming. This joy is miraculous and without end; it transcends all levels of material pleasure and happiness; and it communicates great hope for the establishment of loving and reconciliatory relationships among human beings throughout the world.

     This year, the joy of the Paschal Feast comes at a time marked by war and human suffering, when we are called to demonstrate Christian compassion and mercy to our brothers and sisters who are in pain. Faced with this reality, we contemplate in our humanity the inevitable question “How do we understand joy in the midst of suffering?”

     This question prompts us to consider the agony of Christ crucified and the universal and redemptive message of the Cross, which is realized in the victory of the Resurrection—a victory over every form of affliction, enslavement, oppression, and, ultimately, death itself. During the Paschal season, the Church invites us to contemplate the triumph of the Resurrection over all forms of suffering, and to realize the eternal beauty and universal meaning of the symphonic relationship between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. In this divine mystery lies the irrevocable and saving truth that Christ died for sins once for all, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit (I Peter 3:18).

     In our contemporary age, the ultimate victory of Jesus Christ over sin and death calms all those throughout the world who suffer in blamelessness and innocence. This victory is our inheritance as Orthodox Christians, which we come to appreciate more fully as we grow in our love for one another and in our faith. I pray that your faith in Jesus Christ may continue to grow in your hearts during this glorious Paschal season, granting you every assurance and hope in His joyous Resurrection, which heals, reconciles, and comforts all the world. May the blessings of Almighty God be with you, and may the infinite grace of our Risen Lord Jesus Christ strengthen your faith in His abiding presence and love, now and always.

†DEMETRIOS
Archbishop of America