2003 Resurrection Message (4/21/03)

A Message from Bishop John Elya

Annunciation Cathedral

(To be read from the pulpit or to be distributed with the bulletin)  

Christ is Risen! ~ He is Truly Risen!

Two thousand years ago, death and darkness were shattered by the brilliant light of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, on that first Easter morn.  Today we continue to celebrate the Resurrection with great joy and excitement.  As we burst through the doors of Church during the Service of Haste (Hajmi) we sing,

“Today is the Day of Resurrection; O Nations, let us be joyful!

For this Passover is the Passover of the Lord;

In that Christ made us pass from death to life, and from earth to heaven,

We who sing the song of victory.”

                                      (Paschal Canon, First Ode)

In the beginning, man attempted to steal divinity in Eden as if it were hanging from a tree. Today our compassionate God freely gives us the gift we had tried to steal.  He bestows upon us the divinity of His only-begotten Son.  The Cross upon which our Savior was nailed has become the Tree of Everlasting Life.  This drama that began in the Garden of Eden ends in the garden of Golgatha.  The empty tomb fills us with Life, the Life of God Himself.  The first-created Adam, tiller of soil, failed to tend the garden as he was commanded: Jesus, the new Adam, obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross, and today risen from the dead, appears as a gardener to the Magdalene.  He, who thought divinity not something to be clung to, says to Mary: “Do not cling to Me; go and announce to my brothers that I am alive.  I have risen from the dead.”

Hesychius of Jerusalem, a monk of the fifth century, writes in his Paschal Homily, ‘The festival we celebrate today is one of victory—the victory of the Son of God, King of the whole universe.  On this day the devil is defeated by the Crucified one; our race is filled with joy by the Risen One.”  We greet one another, Christ is risen!  He is truly risen!  To be authentic and effective, this greeting cannot be confined to the church at Liturgy, but the victory, joy, and hope of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ must radiate in all our words and all our actions.  We can make the Resurrection of Christ more or less believable by the way we live our lives.

The world today in many ways is in denial of the joy, victory and reality of the Resurrection of Christ.  “Today is the Day of Resurrection…” Today our world is in particular need of witnesses to the Resurrection.  Our modern society is so obsessed with rationalism and materialism that we have lost our sense of Mystery.  Our secular culture, grasping at its illusory control on reality, vainly attempts to slam shut every door to close out the radiant light of the Truth.  Yet the victory we receive in Christ’s Resurrection compels us to give full witness to this truth and to reject the sin, the relativism, the negativism, the pessimism so often proclaimed by the prince of this world and his minions.

It is the sacred duty of every Christian, especially those of us of the Eastern tradition with our particularly beautiful and powerful Resurrection prayers, to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ, to live the Resurrection of Christ, and to proclaim the Resurrection of Christ.  This call to be a Resurrection people and to live in the radiance of the Truth is indeed a great challenge.  But the power that God gives us to live out this call is even greater.  The Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is given to us to empower us to live the virtuous life.  Imagine such power!

Just as the women feared the great stone blocking the entrance to the tomb, we too often have a large stone blocking us from allowing the light of the risen Savior to shine with radiance in our lives.  That stone is often the sinful habits we have acquired.  Often it is our pride and selfishness.  It can often be a grudge against someone who has hurt us.  It can be laziness in our prayer life, or it can be fear.  The Holy Spirit, dwelling in our hearts, wants to free us of all that stands in the way of our living totally in Christ.  This gift is freely given!  And yet, like any gift, it must be BOTH freely given AND freely received.  We must give Him total control of our lives.  As long as I am in control, the Holy Spirit cannot take control.  As long as I’m doing things my way, I am not doing them God’s way.

Jesus offers us the great and awe-inspiring gift of His holy Resurrection, but we must daily choose to give control to Him who has loved us immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine. We must daily choose to live in the power of His Resurrection and to reject the secular and negative ‘gospel’ of the world promoted with such alluring power through television, movies and the other media.   This glorious celebration of Holy Pascha calls us all to put the Risen Christ in the center of our personal and family life in all that that entails. 

With a jubilant heart, I implore our Risen Savior to grant to each of you and to your families the full measure of His Paschal victory and His radiantly abundant life.  May He bless and protect our nation and may He grant deliverance from terror and peace to our world. Let us pray for unity among all Christians, so that we may celebrate the Feast of His Resurrection together with one mind and one heart. May the peace which He gave to His Disciples on the first Resurrection Day revisit our world which is distressed by war. May He protect us and all those dear to us in America and in our respective countries of origin. May He direct our hearts and our minds to His peace and love, now and forever.

+ Bishop John A. Elya

Eparch of Newton

"I shut the door of yesterday and threw the key away.

Tomorrow holds no fear for me, 

for Christ is Risen today."