Source: Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America
Metropolitan Joseph at St. Mary Antiochian Orthodox Church, Hunt Valley, MD, on Holy Saturday (2018)
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Great and Holy Pascha 2020
Before the symbolical ark, David, God’s forefather, did leap and dance. Let us, therefore, the holy people, seeing the fulfillment of these symbols, rejoice with divine rejoicing; for Christ the Almighty is risen.
Fourth Ode of the Paschal Canon
Christ is Risen! Indeed, He is Risen!
Beloved in Christ,
During this bright feast of Holy Pascha, let us not be cast down with thoughts of what we lack but filled with divine rejoicing at all that Christ the Almighty has bestowed on us. No longer do we need an Ark or a Temple to come into the presence of God, for Christ has descended into Hades and risen from the dead, “that He might fill all things with Himself.” No longer do we fear death, for Christ is the “First-born from the dead,” and “He shall be all things, the first in all things.”
Beloved in Christ, although we have spent these days in physical distance from one another, let us nevertheless dance and leap for joy at the Resurrection of Christ that unites each one of us to God, to one another, and to the inhabitants of the heavens.
With fervent prayers for a joyous feast of Pascha and a hastening of that day when we will gather together once again in our churches, I remain,
Yours in the Risen Lord,
+JOSEPH
Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of all North America
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America