Dearly beloved in the Lord:

    Christ is Risen!  These three words are the message of the Apostles.  These three words are the foundation of our Christian Orthodox Faith.  These three words are the Church.  Christ is Risen, the doxology offered by the martyred saints of the Church as they gave their lives confessing the name of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  Christ is Risen is the hope and expectation of all those who struggle and exhaust themselves to do God’s Will in the world.  The one thing that gives assurance to the righteous and that their cause is just is believing that Christ is Risen!

    Christ is Risen, the greeting of all the faithful who celebrate the new Passover until the Ascension; the Feast of feasts and the Celebration of celebrations, first and foremost above all the feastdays of the Church.  Christ is Risen, the triumphant hymn of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ; the hymn that we sing today and echoes throughout all creation.  Christ is Risen from the dead and by His death He has trampled down death and to those in the tombs does He grant life!

    St. Paul, in the entire 15th chapter of his first Epistle to the Corinthians, is heavenly inspired and writes about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the dead.  The Resurrection of Jesus Christ guarantees that the dead will rise.  “...Christ died...He was buried, He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”  Holy Scripture directs its message to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The mystery of God’s divine plan for mankind and the miracles in which He reveals Himself to us are verified in the Holy Gospel and confirmed in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

    In the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we no longer speak of the dead, but of those who have fallen asleep in the hope of awakening to new life.  St. Paul, with complete and firm conviction, states that “Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep...  If our faith in Jesus Christ is only for this life and our death is the absolute end, then St. Paul writes:  “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied.”  The Resurrection of Jesus Christ, however, is the vision of the Prophets, the sermon of the Apostles, the Faith of the Church, and the message of the Holy Gospel, the joy of the Saints, and the hope of the Righteous, the strength of the Martyrs and the patience of the holy ones, the anticipation of the living and the expectation of those who have fallen asleep.  Christ is Risen!