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Church Of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece

The Holy Synod
Kaningos 32 Athens 106 82

PASCHAL ENCYCLICAL FOR THE YEAR 2008 OF HIS BEATITUDE ARCHBISHOP CHRYSOSTOMOS

Once again, by God’s good pleasure and benevolence, in faith and longing we greet the Great Feast of Pascha.

Once again, we have been made worthy of feasting the supernatural wonder of the glorious Arising from the dead of our Redeemer Jesus Christ, and we worship with holy gladness at “The place where His feet have stood.”

With awe and joy, we behold noetically the Risen Lord, addressing the Myrrbearing Women, “Rejoice!”

From His All-Holy mouth we also receive, along with the Myrrbearers, this “Rejoice,” which was purchased by His voluntary passion for our salvation.

He invites us to rejoice, for we partake in the joy of His Resurrection, as His creatures, as His own children!

On account of this, in gladness and rejoicing we run to greet Him as the Victor over Death, bearing our lamps to show forth the eternal light of our faith and to symbolize that Holy Light rising from the life-bearing Tomb perpetually through the midst of the ages.

Therefore we cry out with the whole creation, chanting: “Come ye, receive light from the never-waning light and glorify Christ Risen from the dead.”

This heavenly miracle alone suffices as testimony and unshakeable truth, that
“Christ is Risen!”

The Resurrection is an invincible reality, as the rock of faith, against which the gates of hades shall never prevail, no matter how much the demons clamor in vain.

Each of us, also, has received personally the experience of the Resurrection through faith, and therefore doubt finds no place in our heart.

We sense palpably the presence of the Risen One, and thus we worship Him and we confess Him with the tongue of our heart as PERFECT MAN and TRUE GOD, shouting aloud the triumphant greeting,

“ CHRIST IS RISEN!”

The Resurrection is the greatest event in history.

It has given rebirth to, it has formed anew, the universe. It has transformed sorrow into joy through the hope that we also shall arise and shall be glorified together with Him forever.

This is the feast of feasts and festival of festivals, according to St. John Damascene.

This is the chief dogma of our faith and especially of our orthodoxy, and therefore the divine Paul makes bold to say, “…if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith also is vain” (I Cor. 15:14), for he calls us to a new life according to Christ.

Today, the very air vibrates with the Paschal hymns and melodies, with the wondrously varied perceptions of love and affection proceeding from the recently celebrated divine darkness of the Redeemer’s sacrifice upon the Cross for our salvation. Therefore, we should demonstrate our gratitude by being clothed with the virtues, as the pleasing and propitiatory sacrifice for our sins.

Pondering the greatness of this Feast, we entreat our Philanthropic God and Master, that his Divine mercy and Salvific assistance may accompany us unto the very end of the struggle of this life against the all-evil devil, unto the preservation of the saving and precious treasure of Orthodoxy and of our immortal soul from every sin which imperils its Deliverance.

In conclusion, we prayerfully wish to all of our beloved Brethren and children, those both near and far: joy, health, and the enjoyment of eternal good things through the Resurrection, and embracing you all we greet you with the greeting which resounds harmoniously through the universe: “CHRIST IS RISEN!”