P A S C H A L M E S S A G E
of the Primate
of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
His Beatitude Metropolitan of Kyiv
and All Ukraine
O N U F R I Y
to the Archpastors, Pastors, Monastics,
and All Faithful Children
of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
Christ is Risen!
I wholeheartedly greet all of you, God-loving archpastors and pastors, devout monks and nuns, dear brothers and sisters, on our greatest Christian Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ!
The Resurrection of Christ is a most glorious, sacred event, through which God returned the lost Paradise to mankind; it is the event through which the Love of God destroyed hell and deprived death of its power. Through His Resurrection, Christ the Saviour again bestowed upon mankind the lost gift of eternal life and bliss.
By wonderful paths, unsearchable for human mind, the Love of God takes on human nature and comes to earth so as to defeat the all-human malice and sin.
The God-Man Christ takes on our sins and is wilfully crucified for them on the Cross as Man. On the Cross, Christ the Saviour tears the handwriting of human sins and frees mankind from the power of the devil, takes mankind away from his hands. And when the God-Man Christ died on the Cross as Man and descended into hell, the Godhead, Which had united with human nature forever in Christ, also descended into hell. With its splendour, the Godhead slew hell (Resurrectional Troparion, tone 2). The Godhead raised up the human nature of the Saviour and led the souls of all the righteous, who had lived on earth by faith in the Coming Christ, out of hell.
The Resurrection of Christ became the greatest triumph of the victory of life over death.
The word about Christ Crucified and Risen was proclaimed all over the world. The Holy Apostles, sincere disciples and followers of Christ, who were witnesses of the teaching, wonders, sufferings, and Resurrection of Christ, dispersed over the entire world so as to proclaim and testify about the Bright and invincible Resurrection of their great Teacher and Lord, Who trampled down our death by His death and upon those in the tombs bestowed life by His Resurrection (Troparion of Holy Pascha). The word about the Risen Christ was powerful and mighty, it transformed the world; it freed mankind from fear, distress, and despair, and embraced human sufferings, sorrows, and pain with the warmth of bright hope. The word about the Risen Christ taught people to build their earthly lives correctly — so that the will, truth, and love of God may reign in them.
Today, we joyfully celebrate and prayerfully glorify the Bright Resurrection of Christ, the Great Victory of good over evil, which has been bestowed upon us by our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ. We share this sacred joy with one another and with all people of good will. We, as Christians, bear witness of and ought to bear witness of the Resurrection of Christ not only with our words but also with our lives.
What does it mean to bear witness of the Risen Christ with one’s life?
If a Christian lives godly, that is, lives according to the commandments of Christ, he becomes a fountain of clean, living water of the grace of God, which springs up into everlasting life (John 4:14). Like the sky is reflected in an ordinary clean spring, says Saint Theophan the Recluse, Christ is reflected in the pure life of a Christian who lives according to the word of Christ. Those people who do not want to or cannot lift their reasonable eyes to Heaven can see in the Heavenly glory the Risen Christ Who is, Who is reflected in the pure life of a devout Christian, and thus get a good opportunity to change their vain lives into bright and joyful lives in Christ.
Let us too, dear brothers and sisters, join those Christians who today testify to the world about the incorruptible beauty, greatness, and saving power of the Resurrection of Christ with their God-pleasing lives. Let us build our lives in such a way that the Name of God, Who is great and glorious in His works, may be hallowed and glorified in them; of the Maker of Heaven and earth; of God, Who because of His infinite love descended from Heaven to earth so as to raise us from earth to Heaven (Akathist to the Saviour, kontakion 8).
I once again greet all of you, dear brothers and sisters, on the Great Feast of Pascha of Christ, on the Feast of the Bright Resurrection of Christ! May the Risen Christ fill our hearts with bright hope for salvation and the joy of His great Victory over the forces of evil. May the Risen Christ pacify the malice of those who are waging war against us and bless us with peace.
Indeed Christ is Risen!
Humble
Metropolitan Onuphry (Berezovsky)Onuphry (Berezovsky), Metropolitan
“>+ Onufriy
Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine
Pascha of Christ
2025
Kyiv
Source: Orthodox Christianity
