These words resound with radiant joy and overflow in the midst of the immortal souls of Orthodox Christians.

This eternal [and] inexhaustible joy began from that moment when the Risen Lord first appeared to the myrrh-bearing women and said to them: «Rejoice!» (Matt. 28, 9). They found the apostles and related to them the joyful news of the Risen Christ, of the Victor over death. This word, «rejoice», sprouted into fullness of life, like a seed, in those who believed in the Resurrection of Christ.

«Rejoice ye always in the Lord, and again I say: rejoice!» the Apostle calls out to us. From that time on, not only for the apostles, but also for believers throughout all ages, the news of Christ's Resurrection became the foundation of their faith and the inexhaustible source of this holy, unbounded joy. For the sake of the Risen Christ, not just the apostles, but the faithful of all times, forgot their personal life, everything earthly, and went, as they go even now, to humiliation, deprivation and suffering.

Pascha — the Feast of feasts, calls us from out of our enslavement to sin and death to freedom and life eternal! Pascha is not [merely] a commemoration, nor a symbol, but a reality! For the venerable Seraphim of Sarov, Pascha was always. The venerable one would greet everyone coming to him [with the words]: «O my joy, Christ is Risen!», whether it was in the springtime or in summer, in autumn or in winter. He abode constantly in the joy of Pascha.

Do we rejoice with you, dear brothers and sisters? We say that we rejoice, in any event, when we listen to our splendid paschal hymnody. But do we rejoice as we should? Do we rejoice at the ultimate victory over death? Do we rejoice at the presently open gates into paradise? Many of us do not experience the entire fulness of the triumphal solemnity of Pascha. Apparently, this is because our spiritual life is impoverished, and we are unable, in full measure, to rejoice at the spiritual cause of this joy; we cannot rejoice both with others and for others. We seek joy, first of all, for ourselves. But the supreme joy is to rejoice together with one's neighbour. God created us to rejoice together with Him and, consequently, to rejoice together with our neighbour. Sometimes we are insufficiently aware that the Resurrection of Christ is the supreme crowning [act] of Love. We should love Christ exceedingly, in order that we might truly, with all our hearts, sense the universal joy of the Resurrection.

If, during the Great Lent, which prepared us for the radiant [feast of] Pascha, we attempted to humble ourselves and laboured over the correction of our weaknesses, then on the bright night of Pascha, our heart will accept into itself, with full intensity, the beautiful words of St. John Chrysostom: «... If any man be a wise servant, let him enter into the joy of his Lord!». Amen.

Pascha 2003
+Archbishop Varnava