2021-05-03

“He died for all,
that those who live should live no longer for themselves,
but for Him who died for them and rose again”. (2 Corinthians 5:15)

Your All-Holiness, dear Father in Christ,
Christ is risen!
Again, the holy feast of Pascha has arrived. The present conditions are not ideal to express fully our joy. The pandemics has made it complicated, also hindering our relations with our neighbours. We are all tired of this trial.
But even in these hard times, as the paschal divine service tells us, it was by His sufferings that God overcame suffering and by His death, death. We have entered a new, revolutionary dimension. Easter is not just some commemoration of a historical event; it is supra-temporal. The God incarnate takes our human time to heaven, to the divine eternity. True life is not a biological survival, but a wisdom of the Cross, adherence to Jesus Christ, the conqueror of death.
´Joy ´ is the first among all the beautiful words we can say about Pascha. We exult and tremble of joy all this night, the night when man meets God. It is the joy of all joys, because between man and God there are no barriers anymore. Christ is risen, and our life is changed. Christ is risen, and God forgives us. Christ is risen, and He touches everyone, recreating them with His divine splendour. In the paschal joy, we can overcome all our fears.
Your venerable All-Holiness,
The Resurrection is not a consolation for future, but a vocation for today, because Christ is risen indeed.

Yours in the risen Lord

† Stephanos, Metropolitan of Tallinn and All Estonia