As Great and Holy Pascha approaches, those who seek to gain a more complete grasp of the central importance of this Feast of Feasts, and to explore the fullness of its meaning, will find no greater guide than His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. In his annual Patriarchal Encyclicals for Holy Pascha, His All-Holiness has given us a series of thoughtful and moving reflections upon the Holy Resurrection of Christ, reflections that retain their value to instruct and illuminate our hearts, souls, and minds not just in the Paschal season of the year in which they were issued, but throughout our entire lifetimes.
In his Patriarchal Encyclical for Holy Pascha 2025, His All-Holiness reminds us that “the Resurrection is not the remembrance of an event from the past,” but a transformation that God promises to the faithful: it is “the ‘good change’ of our existence, ‘another birth, an alternate life, a different kind of living, the transformation of our very being.’”
This is because “in the Risen Christ, the entire creation is renewed together with humanity. When we chant in the 3rd Ode of the Paschal Canon, that ‘Now everything is filled with light—heaven, earth, and all things beneath the earth; therefore, let all creation celebrate the resurrection of Christ, in which everything has been established,’ we proclaim that the universe is founded on and filled with unfading light. The phrases ‘before Christ’ and ‘after Christ’ ring true not only for the history of the human race, but also for the sake of all creation.”
That in turn is why Pascha is the center and heart of our faith: “The Lord’s raising from the dead constitutes the nucleus of the Gospel, the stable point of reference for all the books of the New Testament, as well as for the liturgical life and devotion of the Orthodox Christians. Indeed, the words ‘Christ is Risen!’ summarize the theology of the Church. The experience of the abolition of the dominion of death is a source of ineffable joy, ‘free from the bonds of this world.’”
As a result of the Resurrection, the Christian life is fundamentally joyful: “All things are filled with joy upon receiving the taste of resurrection.” The resurrection is an explosion ‘of great joy’ and permeates the entire life, ethos and pastoral ministry of the Church as the foretaste of the fullness of life, knowledge and life of the eternal kingdom of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Orthodox faith and pessimism are contradictory phenomena.”
In his Patriarchal Encyclical for Holy Pascha 2024, the Ecumenical Patriarch elucidated the link between the Resurrection of Christ and our own future resurrection: “The glorious Resurrection of the Lord Christ from the dead,” he wrote, “is a shared resurrection of the entire race of mortals and a foretaste of the perfection of all, as well as of the fulfilment of the Divine Oikonomia in the heavenly Kingdom.” It is through the Church that we share in His Resurrection: “We participate in the ineffable mystery of the Resurrection in the Church, being sanctified in its sacraments and experiencing Pascha, ‘which has opened to us the gates of Paradise.’”
This Paschal spirit, His All-Holiness explained in his Patriarchal Encyclical for Holy Pascha 2023, permeates the entire existence of the Church on earth: “In all of its dimensions,” the Ecumenical Patriarch explained, “the life of the Church is invigorated by the ineffable joy of the Resurrection. The ‘experience of resurrection’ is witnessed in the labors of the Saints and Martyrs of our faith, as well as in the liturgical and sacramental life, the proclamation of the Gospel ‘to the ends of the earth,’ the devotion and spirituality of the faithful, their sacrificial love and Christian conduct, but also in their expectation of a world where ‘death will no longer exist, nor will there be mourning, wailing or suffering’ (Rev. 21:4).”
This is a call for hope in the Lord and a sacred optimism born of the joy of the Resurrection of Christ, for “in and through the Resurrection, everything lies in a state of motion toward perfection in the Kingdom of God. This eschatological drive has always provided Orthodox Christians in the world with dynamism and perspective.” This drive does not lead to a denial of the realities of this world, but to their being regarded with the proper perspective: “Despite the claims of the opposite, as a result of the eschatological orientation of its life, the Church never compromised with the presence of evil in all its expressions in the world. Nor did it deny the reality of pain and death. Nor again did it ignore the ambiguity of human affairs. And finally, it never considered the struggle for a more just world as something foreign to its mission. Still though, the Church always knew that pain and the cross are not the ultimate reality. The experiential quintessence of the Christian life is the conviction that, through the Cross and through the ‘narrow gate,’ we are led to the Resurrection.”
And so, as His All-Holiness states in his Patriarchal Encyclical for Holy Pascha 2022, “the Resurrection is the nucleus of the faith, devotion, culture and hope of Orthodox Christians. The life of the Church – in its divine-human, sacramental and liturgical, as well as spiritual, moral and pastoral expression and in the good testimony about the grace that has come in Christ and about the expected ‘common resurrection’ – incarnates and reflects the annihilation of the power of death through the Cross and Resurrection of our Savior, along with the liberation of humankind from ‘enslavement to evil.’”
His All-Holiness adds that “Pascha is the feast of freedom, joy and peace. We solemnly praise the Resurrection of Christ through which we experience our own co-resurrection.” With the joy of the Resurrection in our hearts, let us join our worldwide spiritual father in this praise of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, whose cross and resurrection have opened for us the path to true freedom, joy and peace.
