OCA Chancery
Syosset, New York
To the Venerable Hierarchs, Reverend Clergy, Monastics, and Faithful of the Orthodox Church in America
Dearly beloved,
CHRIST IS RISEN! INDEED, HE IS RISEN!
With these words I embrace you as we rejoice and offer thanks to Almighty God Who through His Incarnate Son and Divine Spirit beckons all to enter new and eternal life.
Today the tomb—the dreaded cave of fear and captivity—has been transformed into the gate of Paradise. The darkness of death is now filled with the uncreated light of the Triune God. The horror of death is now overcome with the joy of salvation. It is this eternal salvation that is the fruit of the Cross and the empty tomb. And it is this salvation of regeneration that is freely offered to all who desire to abide in the embrace of our life-giving Savior. “For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” ( I Cor 15:21-22).
Through the death of the Savior the tyranny of sin and mortality has been crushed. And we mortals, who are now called to approach the Life Giver in faith and love, are also charged to celebrate with purified minds and hearts so we may receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Crowned with this gift—the gift of Truth, Beauty and Glory—we are commissioned as the Church to proclaim to the world that death can no longer enslave us to sin. By the Spirit we are now sent out to care for all who continue to suffer and struggle beneath the tattered shroud of death.
Beloved in the Lord, the legacy of Christ’s Resurrection belongs to every human being. With ever fiber of our being we are to offer this legacy which endows all with new and divine life. May the glory, wisdom, power and strength of the great gift of our Lord’s Resurrection guide us as we bear witness to the triumphant victory of life over death.
CHRIST IS RISEN! INDEED, HE IS RISEN!
With love in the Risen Lord,
+ THEODOSIUS
Archbishop of Washington,
Metropolitan of All America and Canada