Paschal Greetings from Patriarch 2026
Prot. No. 279† Bartholomaios
Archbishop of God`s Mercy
Constantinople - New Rome
and Ecumenical Patriarch
To All the Fullness of the Church Grace, Peace, and Mercy
in Despite the Gloriously Resurrected Christ
Most Venerable Brother Hierarchs and Blessed Children in the Lord,
Having arrived in fasting, prayer, and devoutness on the glorious and solemn day of Holy Easter, we praise and glorify the world-saving Resurrection of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, which marks the glorious victory of life over death, renews all creation, and opens to man the path of deification by grace. The Church of Christ preserves the Easter experience in liturgical life, in the labors of the Saints and Martyrs of the faith, in the eschatological urge of monasticism, in the proclamation of the Gospel “to the ends of the earth,” in theology and the art of doxology, in the good witness of the faithful in the world, in the culture of love and solidarity, in the unwavering certainty that evil does not have the final say in history.
The Resurrection of the Lord is experienced as Christ-given freedom, which inspires, nourishes and strengthens the creative powers of man, the good struggle for “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good report”, reminding all of us that the path towards the Resurrection is inextricably linked to the Cross. The joy of the resurrection saved the people of God from identification with the spirit of this world, and in this, it protected them from barren closedness and a spirituality devoid of dynamism and hopeful spirit. The life of believers, crucified and resurrected in Christ for us humans, nullifies even today all the unfamiliar narratives about the Christian ethic as the “ethics of the weak,” supposedly represented by humility, forgiveness, sacrificial love, asceticism, the Lord’s “But I say to you, do not resist evil” and other principles and attitudes, which belong to the core of our identity. Nothing is more untrue than this approach to the ethos of Christianity, of “selfless” sacrificial love, intertwined with bravery, courage, and existential authenticity. Easter is a hymn to this freedom, the faith “activated by love”, which is not our own achievement, but grace and a gift from above, and is lived in the holy mysteries of the Church and in the “mystery” of serving our neighbor. Indeed, “love for God, hatred for man, is completely intolerable”.
The Church of Christ, the “salt of the earth,” the “light of the world,” the city “set upon a hill,” the lamp, the “lampstand”, bears witness to the world in the face of the signs of the times about the coming grace and “the hope that is in us.” The word of the Cross and the Resurrection resounds today as the Gospel of peace, reconciliation, and justice. War, hatred, and injustice oppose the fundamental Christian principles, for the realization and establishment of which the people of God pray and work daily. In the light of the Resurrection, we pray to the Lord for the victims of war violence, for the orphans, for those mourning the children of their mothers, for all those who carry in their body and soul the effects of human cruelty and pain. “Christ is Risen” is a denial and condemnation of violence and fear and an invitation to a peaceful life. War produces chaos and death; the Resurrection conquers death and grants incorruption.
In the face of the daily images of the barbarity of war, the Church proclaims with her voice the sacredness of the human person of every specific person on earth, and the duty of absolute respect for it, and calls us to “know our office, honor the archetype, know the power of the mystery and for whom Christ died.” The Resurrection of the Lord is the restoration of man to his pre-eternal inclination. As the “beginning of another eternal life,” it heals alienating relationships and establishes the peace “that surpasses all understanding”, which encompasses worldly reconciliation and peace.
By divine providence, the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church, the tenth anniversary of whose convocation we are honoring this year, underlined the duty of the Church
“to applaud everything that truly serves peace (Rom. 14:9) and paves the way to justice, brotherhood, true freedom and mutual love among all the children of the one heavenly Father, as well as among all the peoples that make up the one human family”.
Holy Easter is our entire spiritual culture, the core of our piety. The Resurrection of the Lord is also our own Resurrection in this age, a prefiguration and foretaste of the "common resurrection of mankind" and the renewal of all creation. Illuminated by the resplendent light of the face of the Risen Christ and glorifying in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs the wonderful name of Him, the Prince of Peace, the One who is with us “always until the end of the age”, we wish you a “Happy Resurrection,” full of divine gifts throughout the Easter season and all the days of your lives, exclaiming the world-charming
“Christ is Risen! Truly the Lord is Risen!”
Phanarion, Holy Easter, bks´
† Bartholomew of Constantinople
fervently devoted to the Risen Christ
Best wishes to all of you.
