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Easter Message Head of the Orthodox Church of Kazakhstan metropolitan of Astana and Kazakhstan Alexander

Honorable fathers, dear brothers and sisters, residents of Kazakhstan land!

In heaven and on earth now resound the jubilant words of the ancient and ever-living apostolic greeting:

CHRIST IS RISEN!

With this joyful hymn to life, proclaiming to the whole Universe the good news of the Resurrection of Christ, I greet you and congratulate you from the bottom of my heart. Just two words, but they contain the essence of faith, the strength of hope and the strength of our love for the Savior, who was crucified for us, suffered and was buried and rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures. For 40 days, during the celebration of God's saving Pascha, instead of the usual good wishes, we will turn to each other with this life-affirming exclamation, testifying before Heaven and earth, before those near and far about the immutable truth of the Resurrection of our Lord.

"Rejoice!" (Matt. 28:9), Christ addressed the people, having risen from the dead. For the word of God is alive and active (Heb. 4:12), and therefore from the gospel times to the present day, all those who love the Lord rejoice and jubilate in the Resurrection of Christ. The great teacher of the Church, St. Simeon the New Theologian, affirms: "The Resurrection of Christ is also our own resurrection." The Easter celebration renews our souls and strengthens in us the hope that beyond this earthly wandering there is infinite life, that at the end of time God will “raise us also by His power” (1 Cor. 6:14) and “those who have done what is good will rise to live” (John 5:29).

We perceive the reality of the Resurrection of Christ through the testimonies of eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word (Luke 1:2) - myrrh-bearing women and apostles, we contemplate the sacred gospel events with the eyes of faith. The Lord, after rising from the dead, repeatedly appeared to His disciples in Jerusalem, in the Upper Room of Zion, on the way to Emmaus, on the Sea of Tiberias, in Bethany and on the Mount of Olives. Now, after more than two thousand years, together with them we also mysteriously meet the Savior rising from the tomb and gain invaluable experience of personal communication with Christ, the Head of life (Acts 3:15). Thanks to firm faith in the Resurrection the Lord's victory over death becomes our victory as He Himself testified: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, eventhough they die” (John 11:25).

The bright Resurrection sermon strengthens and comforts us not only by the fact of Christ's victory over sin and death, but also by the fact that the Savior of the world is with us according to His unfalse promise "I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). In the radiance of the Lord's Pascha we learn to see the wise Providence of God in human history and the realization of the Creator's plan in our own lives, we begin to realize the depth of God's wisdom and knowledge (Rom. 11:33). The ability to look at the events taking place around in the light of the Resurrection of Christ is especially important today, when humanity is more and more immersed in material concerns, fettered by despondency and fear of tomorrow, forgetting about the most important thing - about God and the immortal soul. Easter, which opens the doors of paradise to us, gives people the opportunity to rise above the bustle of life and feel the greatness of Divine love, for the sake of man descended “by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8).

“Let us cleanse our senses and see Christ shining with the impregnable light of the Resurrection,” the words of the Paschal Canon written by St. John of Damascus resound in churches. Only the pure in heart can see God (Matthew 5:8). It is not the thickness of time or other circumstances that prevent people from clearly hearing the Gospel and seeing the light of the Resurrection, but passions and vices. Therefore, the Church calls us to always be attentive to our inner life, to keep our mind and soul from the filth of sin and to strive for goodness. “The labor of feats has passed,” St. John Chrysostom teaches us, “but zeal for good deeds should not pass; fasting has passed, but let piety remain.”

The book of Acts says: “with great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all” (Acts 4:33). You and I are the disciples of the Savior and therefore we are also entrusted with a high and noble mission to proclaim the good news that “the Lord has truly risen” (Luke 24:34). At the same time, let us remember that as St. Abba Isaiah warns: “He teaches in vain, whose deeds do not correspond to teaching.” Looking at the Crucified and Risen Christ, let us reject the sin that stumbles us (Heb. 12:1) and in everyday life we will be guided by love, Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.(1 Cor. 13:4-7). May the Risen Savior breathe into our souls the determination to follow His commandments and grant us the wisdom and strength to do so.

Rejoicing in the Resurrection of Christ, let us share with each other the joy of this triumph, warm the warmth of our souls to those who suffer and endure hardships, extend a helping hand to those in need, comfort the grieving and lonely, firmly keeping in mind the words of the Savior: “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matt. 25:40).

I congratulate you all on the feast of the Resurrection of Christ, I prayerfully wish you to be in joy in the Lord, Who has been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life (Tit. 3:7), and again I proclaim the apostolic Easter hymn:

CHRIST IS RISEN! - TRULY IS RISEN!

HEAD OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH OF KAZAKHSTAN
ГЛАВА ПРАВОСЛАВНОЙ ЦЕРКВИ КАЗАХСТАНА
METROPOLITAN OF ASTANAI AND KAZAKHSTAN