To the archpastors, pastors, deacons, monks and nuns, and to all the faithful children of the Russian Orthodox Church
Beloved in the Lord archpastors, honourable priests and deacons, God-loving monks and nuns, dear brothers and sisters!
Human language, in all its richness and diversity, has no words more joyful or more longed for by the heart of the believer than this astonishing testimony to the victory of life over death and of good over evil.
“Christ is risen!” This good news concentrates all the hidden power of the hope and the immense faith by which people have lived since being driven out of paradise. They lived in expectation of forgiveness, reconciliation, deliverance, but the Lord gave them incomparably more, for, in His love, “ God had provided something better for us ” (Heb 11:40).
The Son of God came into the world and became man; He shared with us the burden of earthly existence and drank to the dregs the cup of suffering, the bitterest of which is the cup of death. “ A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief ” (Is 53:3), He took our sins upon Himself, going up to the Cross of His own will.
But could death hold the Creator of life? Could the insatiable abysses of hell swallow Him by whose Word “ all things were made ” and without whom nothing was made (Jn 1:3)? “ The glory of God has been revealed to the universe and has illumined hell. Death is annihilated, the gates of hell are broken, all creatures that lay in darkness are flooded with light ,” exclaims St Ephrem the Syrian with fervour, exalting the Saviour’s victory over death (“Jesus is the light of the world”).
Has anyone ever heard that death gave up one of its prey? If it did give it up, it was only to take it back all the more surely. But Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has dominion over Him ” (Rom 6:9)! He, the firstborn from the dead (1 Cor 15:20), goes before us on this path: “ Christ the firstfruits, then those who are Christ’s at His coming ” (1 Cor 15:23).
God, who by His incarnation renewed human nature and healed it of the wounds of sin, leads us by His resurrection to pastures better still. He does not merely restore to people what they had lost, granting them forgiveness and reconciliation with Him, but He destines us “ to be His adopted children through Jesus Christ ” (Eph 1:5) and “ to those who believe in His name, He gave the right to become children of God ” (Jn 1:12) and gods by grace.
As blossoming nature is transfigured with the spring, the astonishing news of salvation spreads once more over the world: “ You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified; He is risen, He is not here ” (Mk 16:6). The tomb is empty! He is risen, as He said (Mt 28:6)!
The Pascha of Christ is the inexhaustible source of our joy, an immense joy flowing from God’s love for mankind, which surpasses understanding and through which the goods, visible and invisible, are made manifest to us. The immeasurable power of this sacrificial love extends so far that it conquers hell, opens paradise, and bestows forgiveness and true spiritual freedom.
“Love is strong as death” (Song 8:6), said King Solomon, rich in wisdom. But we, the disciples of Christ, testify with conviction that love is stronger than death. It transcends time and space; it dethrones sin and the power of darkness. The all-merciful Lord calls us to the kingdom of love, which no one can enter without bearing it in his heart. Let us forgive one another, let us cast off the fetters of resentment and mutual disappointment, let us be reconciled and embrace one another. Let us be merciful to the needy and comfort the afflicted.
Illumined by Christ, entering into the wondrous celebration of Pascha, we transfigure the world around us with the uncreated light of the Resurrection; we bring it into the joy of salvation that the whole universe awaits, longing to obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God (Rom 8:21). Our life, lived in union with the Lord, will then become an authentic Liturgy, a Liturgy of truly cosmic scope in which every creature will be able to give thanks and glory to the Creator, exclaiming: “ Glory to Thy Resurrection, O Christ! Glory to Thy kingdo m! Glory to Thy dispensation, O Lord, Lover of mankind ” (Sunday troparion, tone 1).
In this world where spiritual quests are many, only One is the Way, the Truth and the Life (Jn 14:6). Only One is victorious over sin and death. Only One opens the heavens. His name is Jesus Christ, and there is salvation in no one else (Acts 4:12).
Wishing you all a blessed feast of Pascha, I proclaim once more this life-giving testimony, which gives courage down the ages:
TRULY, CHRIST IS RISEN!
PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA
Pascha
2026