Archiepiscopal Encyclical for Holy Pascha 2019
The angel said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek
Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen as He said. Come,
see the place where the Lord lay. (Matthew 28:7) These are the words that
filled their hearts with joy. These are the words they took to the
disciples with rejoicing. These are the words, He is risen, that we
proclaim today in our joyful celebration of Holy Pascha and the
Resurrection of Christ.
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Archiepiscopal Encyclical for Holy Pascha 2018
Today as we proclaim, “It is the Day of Resurrection,” we glorify God, and
we shout with resounding joy because it is the Day of life. Our Risen Lord
is victorious over death. By His glorious Resurrection, Christ has shown
the unlimited power of God as the Source and Giver of life; and because of
His love for us, He has brought us from death unto life, and from earth
unto Heaven. Life is restored by our Creator to all that it was meant to
be! Life abundant and eternal is ours!
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Archiepiscopal Encyclical on Holy Pascha 2017
On this glorious Feast of Feasts that is filled with the transcendent light
and unsurpassable joy of the Lord’s Resurrection, I proclaim with you, my
beloved people, the exclamation of victory, Christ is Risen! Truly, He is
Risen!
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Encyclical for Holy Pascha (05/01/2016)
Χριστός Ἀνέστη! Christ is Risen! On this glorious and holy Feast of our
Lord’s Resurrection, we shine in the brilliant light and exhilarating joy
of His presence and grace. We sing hymns of praise to the One who gives us
new life. We proclaim the defeat of death and triumph over the tomb, as
Christ is risen, resplendent and victorious.
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Encyclical for Holy Pascha (04/12/2015)
In the light and joy of this blessed and holy Day of Resurrection, we
gather to celebrate our Holy and Sacred Pascha. This Pascha, this Feast of
Feasts, is a celebration of life, abundant and eternal. It is a celebration
of the power of grace. It is a day above all others when we proclaim
throughout the world that the chains of sin and death have been broken, we
have victory through Christ, and through the power of the Cross and the
Resurrection we are being transformed from death to life.
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Encyclical for Holy Pascha (04/20/2014)
On this beautiful and glorious Feast of Feasts, our hearts and minds are
filled with brilliant light and abundant joy in the presence of the Risen
Christ. He is in our midst now and forever, in all His holiness and glory,
having offered Himself as a pure sacrifice for our sins. He is before us
and within us as the Victor over corruption and death, offering true and
abundant life through His grace. Our Lord embraces us on this day of
exaltation and praise as our Redeemer, guiding us in the way of salvation
and sanctifying us for eternal life.
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Encyclical for Holy Pascha (05/05/2013)
Through the power of our Lord’s Resurrection and the revelation of Him as
the Source of true and eternal life, all of creation has been filled with
the presence of God’s grace. The light of the Resurrection infuses all
things, and no darkness remains. Nothing remains hidden—the consequences of
sin are exposed, and the victory of the Cross is revealed.
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Encyclical for the Feast of Holy Pascha (04/15/2012)
As we gather to celebrate this great Feasts of Feasts, and together we
experience the supreme joy of Holy Pascha, we offer our praise to God for
His abundant grace and for the triumph of our Savior Jesus Christ over the
power of sin and death. In a magnificent revelation of His invincible
might, our Risen Lord has defeated all that corrupts and destroys our human
existence. Through His compassionate sacrifice and Holy Resurrection, He
has reconciled us to our Creator. By trampling down death by death and
dispelling its darkness with the light of true life, He leads us to
salvation and eternal communion with God.
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Encyclical for Great and Holy Pascha (04/24/2011)
On this great and glorious feast of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus
Christ, our hearts are filled with unspeakable joy, our minds embrace the
light of truth, and our souls are transformed by His presence in our midst
and by His love for us.
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Encyclical for the Feast of Holy Pascha (04/04/2010)
On this Feast of Feasts we recognize that the Resurrection of Christ and
our salvation is absolutely the work of God. In His great love for us, He
fulfilled His divine promise of redemption. This love brought us into
existence. His love endured even through our disobedience. In this great
love, He established a means by which we would be reconciled to Him, the
bondage of sin and death would be broken, and we could have and experience
life as He intended it to be. This we could not accomplish on our own. It
is God, and God alone who commands the light to shine out of the darkness,
who in the midst of death, brings life.
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Encyclical for Pascha (04/19/2009)
On this great and glorious Feast of our Holy Orthodox Church, I greet you
in the abundant joy of our Risen Lord and in the peace of His unchanging
promise of salvation and true life. As we gather at night anticipating the
dawning of the new day, our churches, our homes, and most certainly our
souls are filled with the radiance of the Resurrection and the illuminating
Truth of our faith in Christ.
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Encyclical for Holy Pascha (04/27/2008)
It is with love, joy, and gratitude to God that we greet one another in
these days. With the triumphant hymn, “Christ is Risen from the dead,
trampling death by death, and to those in the tombs bestowing life”
(Troparion of the Feast of Pascha), we declare the definitive victory over
sin and death. As Orthodox Christians, we celebrate the Feast of Pascha
each year with the belief and the knowledge that the Resurrection of Jesus
Christ remains the most important event that has ever taken place in human
history. Appropriately, our Orthodox Church refers to this event as the
“Feast of Feasts.”
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Encyclical for Holy Pascha (04/08/2007)
On this most sacred of Feasts in our Church, we gather together in joy and
in love, celebrating the presence of the Risen Lord in our midst, and
singing with one voice the triumphant hymn "Christ is risen from the dead,
trampling death by death, and to those in the tombs granting life."
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Encyclical for Holy Pascha (04/23/2006)
On this great and glorious day of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead, the Feast of Feasts of our Holy Orthodox Church, I greet you with our
time-honored exclamation of truth and victory: Christos Anesti! Christ is
Risen! On this day of the Resurrection, the words of St. Paul to the
Corinthians, "Thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ" (I Corinthians 15:57), resound with great clarity, for today
the Risen Jesus Christ has triumphed over sin, evil, and death.
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Encyclical for Holy Pascha (05/01/2005)
On this, the great and glorious feast of Pascha, I greet you with our
cherished and joyful Paschal greeting, Hristos Anesti! Christ is Risen! As
we have reached the end of our blessed Lenten journey and have opened our
hearts to receive the light and life of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are
called once again by the divine worship and commemorations of the Holy
Orthodox Church to contemplate the significance of Pascha for our lives
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Encyclical for Pascha (04/11/2004)
Christos Anesti, Christ is Risen! On this holiest of days, the most sacred
of Feasts, we gather together as the Church, united by the presence of the
Risen Lord in our midst and in celebration of His triumphant victory over
death. In unison we sing the glorious hymns of the Resurrection, and we
raise our voices joyously proclaiming, “Christ is risen from the dead, by
death trampling down death, and to those in the tombs bestowing life!”
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Encyclical on the Feast of Holy Pascha (04/27/2003)
Tonight we hold aloft the bright Paschal candle, and going forth into the
midnight darkness, we illumine the world around us with the Joyous Light,
triumphantly proclaiming the glory of the Risen One. The candle in our hand
is not merely an accessory to our celebration, but rather a most profound
symbol of the truth that we uphold. By it we manifest our experience that
in the darkness of the human condition, there is but one light; in the
shadow of death, there is one reality alone that brings peace and joy.
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Encyclical for Holy Pascha (04/15/2001)
As we offer to the Risen Lord the triumphant hymn of the victory over
death, we vividly recall the superb resurrection scene from the Gospels:
After the Sabbath, on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the
other Mary (Matthew 28:1) visit the tomb of the crucified Jesus bringing
with them spices and ointments (Luke 24:1).
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Pascha Encyclical to the Faithful (04/30/2000)
Christ is risen from the dead, by death destroying death, and to those in
the tombs bestowing life! The reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ
is for us as Orthodox Christians not a matter of debate or conjecture. The
Resurrection is an absolute and undeniable certainty of our daily
experience of the presence of the Risen Christ, who ever abides with us,
who ever lives to make intercession for us, who ever reigns over us in
love.
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