Keeping the Joy of Resurrection for the Entire Church Year

Source: St. Elisabeth Convent

April 18, 2017

Master, it is good for us to be here (Luke 9:33) – this is what we can say now to our God, Who came to this world to save humanity. Today we are here because it is the very place, where God’s love dwells. The love, which heals any fatal wound, which corrects any mistake and makes up for any loss. There is only one way for an Orthodox Christian – the way to Christ. All the other ways will bring us to a dead end sooner or later. The dead end where we will find nothing but our own “self”, our personal madness and loneliness.

We thank God for allowing us to attend His Feast on this Paschal night. People who have partaken of Holy Communion today will head into the city and carry the Resurrected Christ in themselves. What a wonderful light it will be! Just look how many churches there are in the city, and in each of them people are accepting God.

Sometimes it seems to us that there is so much evil in the world that a person loses the ability to think about what is good and choose good over evil. But this is not true! Christ is the victor! There is nothing to be afraid of, if we choose to be with God. There were some periods in our history when the government itself intended to destroy the Holy Church, to destroy people’s faith in Christ. But Christ was victorious. And today Christ is a victor as well! There are many other temptations in the world – modern civilization, information, various conveniences and comfort, without which our life seems to be impossible. In fact, it is only impossible to live without God, while with Him you can live anywhere, even in prison. Father Nikolai (Guryanov) once told me: “You know, it is good to live in prison as well. People are working there…”

It is good to live in any place, if you live with God. At the same time, you will feel bad anywhere if there is no Christ in your heart. I congratulate you all on partaking of the Sacraments of Christ and the Resurrection of Christ! Let this joy of the Resurrection stay in us throughout the entire Church year. Let us always keep in mind the example of the life of St. Seraphim of Sarov. His life was difficult and sometimes even unbearable. Despite the fact that he faced many challenges on his way, he always met other people with these words: “My dear, Christ is risen!” We should also learn to live in such a way. We should keep the Resurrected Christ in our hearts despite all our sorrows and pains. We should learn to see God in any person. This is what the read victory over death is. Pray God that we manage to become the part of this Victory, to live through it and get enough strength to see The Kingdom of Heaven, which any faithful person strives to reach and not just our grave ahead.

Christ is risen!