His Eminence Metropolitan SAVAS of Pittsburgh
AXIOS!
Posted on 04/23/2022 6:17:44 PM PDT by lightman
As we bask in the glory of the resurrection and greet one another with a joy appropriate for this, the feast of feasts, we must always remember that our salvation is accomplished and completed when Christ rises from the tomb – but it is begun when He is lifted up on the cross.
If it concludes in glory and triumph, our salvation originates in shame and pain. We should linger over this fact for a while, and not pass over it too quickly, because it reminds us that Christ has shared and endured all the worst of human suffering and has conquered death by dying Himself.
As we struggle to care for ailing family members who have no hope of recovery; as we endure in ourselves the habits of a lifetime that seem so hard to break; as we wrestle with the sins of the world that seem to lead inexorably to crime and to injustice and, now, even to war, we must remember that we believe in a God who has met us at our worst, and has turned our darkness into his light.
Our struggles and our sadness are not meaningless and they are not endured alone. Even if we stand in the pit of despair, we must seek for illumination in the shadows, and find Christ in valley of death. We do not believe in a God who ignores our suffering or who befriends only the mighty and the powerful, but in a God who promised us, “In this world you have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world (John 16:33).”
His Eminence Metropolitan SAVAS of Pittsburgh
AXIOS!
Christ is Risen!
Christos Anesti!
Christos Voskrese!
a l - Mas ih qam !
Indeed He is risen!
Hristos vaskrse! Christos anesti! Christ is Risen!!!!
Paschal Encyclical of Serbian Patriarch Porfirije (in English):
http://www.spc.rs/eng/vaskrshnja_poslanica_srpske_pravoslavne_crkve
Wishing you a belated but blessed Paschal feast. May the risen Lord bring joy and peace to your life.
Tuesday of Renewal aka “Bright” Week is barely belated.
Each day is treated as a repeat of Pascha—truly a “week of Sundays”!
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