To the Most Reverend and Most Reverend Bishops, to the Most Holy, Most Honorable and Venerable Fathers, to the Venerable Monks and Nuns, to the Laity of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, dear in Christ
He who delivered the young men from the furnace,
having become man, suffers as a mortal,
and through suffering clothes the mortal with the beauty of incorruption,
the only blessed God of the Fathers and the most glorified.
Song 7 of the Easter Canon
Christ is Risen!
Christ is risen!
Easter of Christ is a holiday of the transformation of man and the universe, the transformation of sorrow into joy, the victory of good over evil and life over death. The myrrh-bearing women hurry to the tomb with tears early in the morning to anoint the body of the crucified and buried Savior. But instead of the dead Teacher, they meet a bright angel who announces to them about the risen and living Christ. They come sad to anoint the buried with myrrh, and depart anointed with the oil of joy: “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, he has risen!” (Luke 24:5-6). The one whom they saw yesterday among the dead, today the angel commands them to seek among the living in the resurrection! Tears of sorrow and myrrh for the deceased suddenly turn into tears of joy and anointing for the proclamation of the greatest Good News in the history of mankind: He is risen!
The amazing mystery that engulfed the myrrh-bearing women becomes a reality for each of us. Today we meet the risen Lord, who triumphantly emerges from the tomb and leads out of the graves all those who have fallen asleep from eternity. Christ is resurrected in a human body, and every person is resurrected with Him. The empty tomb becomes a place where our hearts are filled with inexpressible joy, because now the risen Lord leads us with Him into the joy of eternal life in God.
He who freed the young men from the furnace, becoming man, suffers like a mortal…
That Sunday morning, the myrrh-bearing women and all the disciples who ran to the empty tomb of the Savior at their voice still carried in their hearts the day before yesterday of horror and despair, when they saw Christ despised, tortured and dead on the cross. How painful was the Saturday after the crucifixion for them – a day of fear, confusion, doubts, lost hope in the Teacher – a day when there was not a single sign or word from God. However, the very next morning, the bright herald of the Resurrection, as if piercing the vital and spiritual experience of humanity with the gaze of eternity, says to all of Christ’s disciples: “He is not here!”
The hymns with which the Church now greets the Savior, who triumphantly emerges from the tomb, indicate to us that, celebrating Easter, we should not look only to the past. And we, who have survived more than three years of full-scale war in Ukraine, are called by the same angel to seek and see the presence of Jesus in His resurrection where He is – in our Easter “today”.
The Paschal mystery of the suffering, death and resurrection of the Lord reveals the deepest meaning of the spiritual experience that our people are experiencing today. Helping us to see the suffering and resurrected Jesus among us, Meliton of Sardis, as if summing up the Easter experience of the persecuted Christians of the 2nd century in Asia Minor, says: “(Christ is the one) who took upon himself the suffering of all. He was slain in the form of Abel, His feet were bound in the form of Isaac. He was a stranger in Jacob and He was sold in Joseph… He was incarnate in the womb of the Virgin, was hung on the cross, buried in the earth and, having risen from the dead, ascended to the heights of heaven… He rose from the dead and raised (with Himself) all mankind from the abyss of the grave” (Homily for Easter, 65-67). This is why we sing today that our Savior is “the one who delivered the young men from the furnace, becoming man, suffers like a mortal.”
The same Lord who once descended into the flames of the Babylonian furnace to save the three young men faithful to their father’s faith from the godless command of the torturer, takes upon himself all the unjust suffering and persecution of biblical and human history. He is the one who suffers today in the body of Ukraine! It is He who is being killed in our girls and boys at the front. It is He who continues to be tortured in our prisoners. It is He who is being kidnapped in children who are being sold into Russian slavery. It is He who is wounded in our heroes and cries in the eyes of our mothers, children and orphans who have lost their sons, husbands and fathers. It is He who is being persecuted and humiliated in different countries of Europe and the world in our emigrants and refugees who save their children from war and care about the future of our people. It is He, our Savior, who is not only with us today, but also in us. He shares our pain and our suffering, because He sees us, knows us and feels us in Himself, suffers our wounds in His own body. Therefore, we, Ukrainians, can now say with the Apostle Paul that with our sufferings we complete in our body “what is still lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of His body, which is the Church” (Col. 1:24). That is why the Church of Christ always stands by the suffering, because in them dwells the Lord Himself, who, having become man, suffers as a mortal, and on His resurrected body bears our present wounds!
… And through suffering He clothes the mortal with the beauty of incorruption…
On this bright day of Christ’s Resurrection, we clearly see that our Savior not only suffers inili and wounds of Ukraine, but also resurrects in us! It is He, victoriously breaking the chains, without breaking the seals of the tomb, comes out of death, without experiencing corruption. It is He who clothes what is mortal, the very suffering of each of us, with the beauty and power of immortality and incorruption. Today, especially in this Easter time of our Church and our native people, we know from our own Christian experience, acquired amidst the horrors of war, that the life and resurrection of Jesus Christ pulsates in our veins. Celebrating Easter, we are clothed in the beauty of incorruption through our suffering in the Lord.
It is the pulsation of the power of the Risen One in the body of our Church, the experience and awareness that we are already beginning to be partakers of His Divine life in our mortal body today, that is the source of our Christian hope. Celebrating Easter, we want to be witnesses of the Resurrection of Christ and say to the whole world: “Christ is risen – truly risen”! On this great holiday, we strive to testify to the power of hope for Ukraine, shining it on the whole world. Ukraine is now the center of global change. That is why people all over the world are waiting with such trepidation for the testimony of hope from Ukraine. We already have this hope, we draw it from the risen Savior and share it with all humanity.
Today in Ukraine, hope, like the beauty of incorruption that clothes all of us through suffering, has different bright faces. It can be seen and encountered among our people. Hope shines on the faces of the defenders of Ukraine, who for the eleventh year in a row have shown that the Russian invader, who is numerically larger than us, can and must be stopped. Hope shines on the faces of doctors and rescuers, who tirelessly save the lives of the elderly, adults and children after each missile attack. Hope shines on the faces of loving parents, mentors and teachers who, amidst the horrors of war, often at the cost of their own lives, raise children, teach them faith in God and all that is good, just and eternal. Hope shines on the faces of young Ukrainians, on whose shoulders the burden of wartime hardships fell like the greatest cross and who, despite everything, do not stop loving and dreaming, creating families and giving birth to children, conquering the heights of knowledge and sacrificing for the will of the Motherland the most precious, even their own lives and health.
In this year, which Pope Francis declared a jubilee, inviting us to become pilgrims of hope, let us boldly share our faith in the risen Savior with the whole world! Let us not be afraid to speak the truth about our struggle, about the peace and justice for which we fight and which we build every day! Let us not hesitate to confront falsehood, for violence and death constantly try to justify themselves by resorting to slander and lies! In response to the darkness spread by the enemy of this world, let us shine the light of hope among confused and frightened humanity. The Apostle to the Gentiles encourages us to do this: “… We boast in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we also boast in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope. And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom. 5:2-5).
… The only blessed God of the fathers and the most glorified
On this joyful and bright day, we bless and glorify our Creator and Savior, as our predecessors-ancestors did in faith from generation to generation. We offer a prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord our God, crucified and risen for our salvation. We thank Him for the gift of faith, hope, and love that He constantly places in our hearts; we thank Him even for the trials that He sends us so that we can show His love and kindness to those who suffer.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ! Allow me to thank you from the bottom of my heart and congratulate you on the holiday of the victory of good over evil, light over darkness, hope over despair, truth over lies. I know that each of you in your place contributes to this victory – both with small and great deeds. Our enemy tries to destroy everything that he cannot conquer, seeks to exterminate those whom he cannot master and enslave. Therefore, each of his deadly missiles and each drone is only a sign of his weakness and inevitable defeat. For in the risen Christ we are invincible!
Today I address a word of Easter hope to all who have suffered physically, materially, and morally from this war, Ukrainian soldiers and civilians. I congratulate our heroic soldiers on the Resurrection of Christ, who bravely face death, lovingly protecting those who stand behind their shoulders. I assure you of my unceasing prayer for you and your loved ones. I congratulate our wounded on the battlefield, whose sacrifice is very valuable to us. I accompany your physical and spiritual healing with prayer. I congratulate those who are in enemy captivity or live in occupied territories. Be assured that we do not forget you, because you are always dear and dear to us. I congratulate Ukrainians who have a husband or wife, son or daughter, brother or sister, father or mother fighting at the front. I embrace those who have lost relatives or loved ones over the past year or who have gone missing. I share your pain and your anxiety and in prayer I entrust your loss to the boundless and life-giving mercy of God. I salute those who are struggling for victory, ensuring the vital activity and critical infrastructure of our cities and villages. I greet our volunteers, public activists and all caring people of good will. I greet state leaders and diplomats, accompanying their efforts to achieve a just peace with prayer. I congratulate all refugees, displaced persons, those who are far from home on the day of Easter joy and victory. I convey to you the warmth of the embrace of your mother Church.
I convey Easter greetings and thank those who in Ukraine and in the settlements opened their hearts to support their needy and suffering sisters and brothers materially and morally. I greet and bless our pastors, military, medical and academic chaplains, our monastics, especially in the frontline and combat zones.
I embrace everyone: children, adults and the elderly, men and women — and I wish you that, sharing the blessed things of our Easter basket, you will feel the presence of the God of hope, who gives us joy and peace. I sincerely wish you a blessed Easter holiday, a delicious blessed egg and bright Easter joy!
May the grace of our risen Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you!
Christ is Risen!
Christ is risen!
† SVIATOSLAV
Given in Kyiv, at the
Patriarchal Council of the Resurrection of Christ, on the 5th Sunday of Great Lent, on the day of the Venerable
Mary of Egypt,
The Assumption of Saint Methodius,
Teacher of the Slavs,
April 6, 2025
God
