http://www.hotca.org/pdf/Paschal_Encyclical_2014.pdf
Have a Glorious Pascha!
Στα Ελληνικα (In Greek)
http://tinyurl.com/qcphxdv
Paschal Encyclical
Year of Salvation: 2014
To the entire Church
“Today the whole creation is glad and doth rejoice, for Christ is risen, and Hades hath
been despoiled”“This is the day which the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad therein."
Beloved Children in the Lord,
During today’s holy, brilliant, and light - bearing feast the joy and rejoicing of our Lord’s
Resurrection fill the hearts of all Orthodox Christians, so that they join their hymns of glory
with those of the Holy Angels in heaven, and with all creation in unceasing hymnody,
and ineffable thanksgiving.The despoiling of Hades and the victory of life over death in the Resurrected Christ Jesus
our Saviour is the prelude to the chosen and holy day, the queen and lady: the Feast of
feasts and Festival of festivals, Pascha, the Lord’s Pascha!
However, what precedes this Grace? The Mystery of the Cross: “For behold, through the
Cross joy hath come to the whole world!”Our Lord made haste to complete the work of our salvation, and He often foretold His
Divine Passion. He willingly went to His own Passion, the Cross, and His glorious
Resurrection, drinking the cup of death willingly in obedience, in order to redeem the
entire race of man from sin, the devil, and death. He truly gave up His Spirit on the Cross
and He knew the “corruption” of death, namely, His Soul, united hypostatically to the
Divinity, was separated from the His Body, which is also united hypostatically to the
Divinity, dwelling thus within the God - receiving tomb in hope.
Wherefore His Soul was not abandoned in Hades, neither did His Soul see corruption. The
Body of the Master rested for a short while in the tomb without suffering corruption and
decay, and His Soul was translated to Hades to free those who had been held there from
ages past.The enlivening of His Body after three days through the return of His immaculate Soul,
namely, His Resurrection, did not occur as a personal accomplishment, but in order that
this good be sent “to the entire nature of man.” (St. Cyril of Alexandria)
Wherefore, the common jubilation of the Divine Persons of the Holy Trinity at the
accomplishment of our salvation is also the common jubilation of the Church of Christ,
which is transmitted to each of its honorable members.All those of the Church of Christ with leaps of joy praise the only blessed and most glorious
God of our Fathers, for He is the cause of the death of death, the destruction of Hades, and
the beginning of another life, namely, an eternal one.The birth-pangs of death are loosed, death does not separate us from Christ, we no longer
depart into dark Hades, but into heavenly and brilliant mansions, to dwell there eternally
full of every good!
However, do we experience all these things from now as the promise of an eternal
inheritance? Do we believe in an Orthodox manner, without innovation, and do we keep the
holy commandments so that we may be deemed worthy of the Resurrectional gifts?
The Lord our God encourages each of us, as He encouraged His friend, the righteous
Abraham: “be well-pleasing before me, and be blameless.” And St. James the Brother of the
Lord tells every faithful person: “to keep himself unspotted from the world.”The joy of the Resurrection and the experience of Resurrectional hope constitutes the
union of our upright faith, that is, Orthodoxy, and its visible proof and verification in our
life, that is, Orthopraxis. Proportionate to our repentance, the victory over the passions, the
cleansing from sin, the liberation from the bonds of the evil one, the worthy and continuous
partaking of the Immaculate Mysteries, we receive the grace and joy of the victory of the
Resurrection in hope of life eternal.From the empty grave there always springs forth peace, reconciliation, unity in truth and
love, communion of life, a foretasting of the eternal.
Much beloved children in the Resurrected Lord,
Recently our Lord has deemed us worthy to taste a first resurrection through the gift of
unity in our Genuine Orthodox Church of brethren who until now have been separated,
from near and far, for the reinforcement of the bonds of truth and love, in hope of shaming
the ecumenistic heresy and apostasy in our apocalyptic days. May this Resurrectional
experience be blessed and may it expand even more, no one should remain a prisoner in
the Hades of the hatred of this world of corruption, division, isolation, and decay.May our Resurrectional hope illuminate our Church and guide all our steps to the safe
harbor of sanctification and salvation. To the Glory of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Amen.Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!
Holy Pascha 2014
THE HOLY SYNOD
The Archbishop
† KALLINIKOS of AthensThe Members
† AKAKIOS of Attica and Diauleia
† MAXIMOS of Thessalonica and Demetrias
† ATHANASIOS of Larisa and Platamon
† JUSTIN of Euripus and Euboea
† GERONTIOS of Piraeus and Salamina
† CHRYSOSTOMOS of Attica and Boeotia
† MOSES of Toronto
† DEMETRIUS of America
† CHRYSOSTOMOS of Etna
† CYPRIAN of Oropos and Phyle
† GREGORY of Christianoupolis
† PHOTIOS of Marathon
† SERGIOS of Portland
† AMBROSE of Philippi
† AMBROSE of Methone
† MICHAEL of Nora
† SILVANO of Luni
† CLEMENT of Gardikion
† THEODOSIOS of Bresthena
† CHRISTODOULOS of Theoupolis
† AUXENTIOS of Photike