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April 19, 2011
+ B A R T H O L O M E W
By the Mercy of God
Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch
Beloved children in the Lord, Once again, in a spirit of joy and peace, we
address you with the delightful and hopeful greeting: "Christ is Risen!"
The occurrences and events of our time may not seem to justify the
exultation of our greeting. The natural destruction caused by seismic
tremors and oceanic swells, together with the lurking devastation from
possible nuclear explosion, as well as the human sacrifices resulting from
military conflict and terrorist action, reveal our world to be in horrible
torment and anguish from the pressure of the natural and spiritual forces of
evil.
Nevertheless, the Resurrection of Christ is indeed real and grants to
faithful Christians the certainty - and to all humanity the possibility - of
transcending the adverse consequences of natural calamity and spiritual
perversity.
Nature rebels when the arrogant human mind endeavors to tame its boundless
forces endowed by the Creator it its seemingly insignificant and inactive
elements. In considering from a spiritual perspective the grievous natural
phenomena that plague our planet repeatedly and successively in recent
times, we appreciate and acknowledge the belief that these are inseparable
from the spiritual and ethical deviation of humanity. The signs of this
deviation - such as greed, avarice, and an insatiable desire for material
wealth, alongside an indifference toward the poverty endured by so many as a
result of the imbalanced affluence of the few - may not be clearly related
to the natural occurrences in the eyes of scientists. Yet, for someone
examining the matter spiritually, sin disturbs the harmony of spiritual and
natural relations alike. For, there is a mystical connection between moral
and natural evil; if we wish to be liberated from the latter, we must reject
the former.
Our Risen Lord Jesus Christ, the new Adam and God, constitutes the model for
the beneficial influence of a saint on the natural world. For Christ healed
physical and spiritual illness, granting comfort and healing to all people,
while at the same time bringing calm and peace to stormy seas, multiplying
five loaves of bread to feed the five thousand, thereby combining the
reconciliation of spiritual and natural harmony. If we want to exert a
positive impact on the current negative natural and political conditions of
our world, then we have no other alternative than faith in the Risen Christ
and fulfillment of his saving commandments.
Christ has risen and given new life to the perfect ethos of humankind, which
had darkened this ethos. Christ became the first-born and pioneer of the
regeneration of the world and the whole of creation. The message of the
Resurrection is not empty of meaning for the quality of human life and the
balanced function of nature. As we completely and profoundly experience the
Resurrection of Christ in the depth our heart, our existence shall favorably
impact upon all humanity and the natural world. The natural sciences may not
yet fully have underlined the relationship between the regeneration of
humanity and the renewal of creation, but the experience of the saints -
which should be the aim our own experience - confirms the experientially
proven fact that, indeed, a person reborn in Christ restores the harmony of
the natural world disturbed by sin. In Christ, the saint can move mountains
for the good of the world, while the sinful person, who opposes the ways of
God, can shake the earth and raise destructive waves.
Let us approach the sanctity of the Risen Christ in order, through His
grace, to calm the natural and moral waves that trouble our world today.
May the grace of our Risen Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, beloved
children in the Lord. Amen.
Holy Pascha 2011
To the Plenitude of the Church Grace, Peace and Mercy
From the Savior Christ Risen in Glory
+ Bartholomew of Constantinople
Fervent supplicant for all
before the Risen Christ
See Also:
The
Easter Message of H.H. Pope Shenouda III
The resurrection of the Lord Christ was distinguished
with an amazing power. He is the only One who was
victorious over death by Himself. In His resurrection,
He crushed death, and arose with the power of His
Divinity.
Armenian Primate's Easter Message
Let us renew our lives with the Glorious and Victorious
Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This
is the challenging message of the Feast of the Holy
Resurrection. The Blessed Resurrection calls on us all
to renounce our old-self and instill within us a new
beginning: to live a Christ-like life.
Paschal
Encyclical of HE Metropolitan Nektarios
Christian Pascha, the Resurrection of Christ, has a particular importance for
all people, and this is why it is the central message of the church and a cause
for joy and celebration.
The Easter Message of the Heads of Churches of Jerusalem
Christians find their joy is secure in the hope of the
promise of eternal life which our Lord has won for all
who believe. However, when we in Jerusalem, the city of
redemption, see the suffering of our Christian brothers
and sisters in Egypt, Iraq and elsewhere in our region
our joy becomes more solemn.
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