Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!
At this time of great blessing, we greet Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Risen from the dead, and we greet one another with the acknowledgement of His Presence in our midst. It is especially a time of blessing for us in our Holy Metropolia that we have through the great efforts of certain dedicated people been able to begin the full use of our new and historic Metropolitan Cathedral. May God bless us all in its use and convey blessings upon those who have made this twenty-eight year project come to fruition.
Nevertheless, this is a time of great tension in the world, where even many who call themselves Orthodox find themselves in a condition of actual earthly warfare between themselves as in locations such as Ukrainia. This is a great sadness since the real war between good and evil is being waged so more subtly by the machinations of the Patriarchs that are scheduling their attempt at a false ecumenical council two years from now that is designed as the first of many steps to combine the world’s Orthodox Christians with the false Christianity that emanates from the leadership of the Vatican.
Thus, we must all derive our spiritual strength from the wondrous event of our once again experiencing the Paschal Mystery, and join in our common prayer in such a way that we can fight the battle of spiritual warfare that we must wage against the forces of evil, even when they are cloaked with the nomenclatures of the Orthodox Faith, and thus persevere to continue on this Earth the presence of the True Orthodox Church that will one day in the future welcome the Risen Christ when He returns to be present with the remnant Church that has so long awaited His final visitation.
Unworthy servant,
(H.B., Metropolitan) John