Orthodox Christian Initiative for Africa: "Christ is risen! Kristo yazoka! Χριστός ανέστη!" - Orthodox Holy Easter (Pascha) 2019 in Africa!

Κυριακή 28 Απριλίου 2019

"Christ is risen! Kristo yazoka! Χριστός ανέστη!" - Orthodox Holy Easter (Pascha) 2019 in Africa!

THEODOROS II

BY THE GRACE OF GOD POPE AND PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA AND ALL AFRICA

TO THE PLENITUDE OF OUR APOSTOLIC AND PATRIARCHAL THRONE

GRACE AND MERCY AND PEACE FROM OUR RISEN LORD AND GOD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST

Photo from Uganda, "The midnight resurrection Service at St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral Namungoona" (from here)

Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria & all Africa

We believe “in one Lord Jesus Christ… who suffered and was buried and rose”.

My dear children,

We celebrate with jubilation and spiritual joy the life-giving Holy Pascha! “A Pascha of delight, Pascha, the Pascha of the Lord, a most venerable Pascha has dawned for us, a Pascha in which let us embrace one However, we do not ignore the dreadful reality of our everyday life, pain, injustice, illness. Pascha is a unique, dynamic event. Grief and mourning make way for the brilliance of the divine Light and the triumph of the life-giving Resurrection.

We know that many of our brothers and sisters are stifled financially during these times and that others are on the verge of poverty.

Insecurity and all other types of obstacles, with their catastrophic effects on the living standards of our people, concern all of society, since the victim to not fall on one side of the road and the onlookers of this drama on the opposite side, but as fellow travelers we all suffer consequences with a common impact. First and foremost, these phenomena call everyone to self-examination through the awareness of the deficit and lack of keeping pace lovingly and cooperatively. Around us are raging wars and disasters. Areas close to us are overwhelmed by refugees and immigrants, who are experiencing the impasse of the political and financial expediency of the powers of this world.

In the midst of the gloom brought on by human suffering, the eternal light of the Resurrection of the Saviour radiates in splendour. In Orthodoxy every human being is a unique and unrepeatable personality, an image of God, regardless of colour, language, religion and cultural origins. This calls for the sincere ministry to man, and indeed those in need, in full reference to the salvific commandments of his Creator. The Church is the Body of Christ. Within it, “if one member suffers, all suffer together” since God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him”.

Faith in the Lord who suffered and was buried and rose” and the existential relationship with Him divert patience and endurance, spiritual strength and inner peace to the soul. At the same time, this Faith encourages us to lovingly be beside those who are suffering. Respect and care for those who are afflicted express in the most essential manner our worship of Christ, who was Resurrected “for our salvation”. Even more so does our comprehension of the sorrows of our neighbours and the care for their relief, manifest our faith in the Resurrection and our practical love.

My children

CHRIST IS RISEN! “It is a day of love. Hell has been vanquished […]. Every face shine from the holy candle, which the Christians hold in their hands”, according to our National Poet Dionysios Solomos. May the Risen Lord, the Leader of Life, grant us hope, love, strength and joy in the eternal light of His Resurrection. Granting you all the blessing of the Risen Christ, the Vanquisher of death, of destruction and pain, I greet every one of you personally with the Resurrectional paean: CHRIST IS RISEN! INDEED HE IS RISEN! wishing you every good and pleasurable thing “from the Lord for whatever we do for Him”’

With Resurrectional blessings

† THEODOROS II

Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa

In the Great City of Alexandria Pascha 2019