Feast of the Resurrection of the Lord at the Romanian Patriarchate

April 2015

Thousands of faithful present at the Joy Hill of Bucharest received the Holy Light brought from Jerusalem in front of the Patriarchal Residence. The Resurrection of the Lord service was celebrated here by His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, together with His Grace Timotei Prahoveanul, Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Bucharest, assisted by a group of priests and deacons. At 23.30 hours the Canon of the Great Saturday was celebrated, and then the Resurrection service.

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour is the greatest feast of the Orthodoxy, the Patriarch of Romania showed in his speech.

Christ, the Lord, rewards those who look for Him, love Him and do His will, with His own presence

His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel emphasised the spiritual significance of the gesture of the myrrh bearing women to take hold of His feet when they saw Him: “Christ, the Lord raised from the dead, wanted to reward the faith, devotion and effort of the myrrh bearing women who came to His tomb with a great gift. Thus, while they were going back to Jerusalem, very frightened, because they had not understood how the Resurrection Christ was done, He met them and told them: “Rejoice, do not be afraid!” Then, the myrrh bearing women worshipped Him and took hold of His feet. Thus, we see that Christ, the Lord, rewards with His own presence those who look for Him, love Him and do His will in their lives. This gesture of the myrrh bearing women, who said nothing when they met the Risen Christ but only worshipped Him and took hold of His feet, is a prophetic gesture, representing the encounter of the faithful with the Christ Crucified and Risen in the Holy Cup. This is why after communication the faithful kiss the foot of the Holy Cup as sign of joy and thanksgiving for having met the Christ Crucified and Risen”.

Then, Christ, the Lord makes the wonder of the Holy Light of Jerusalem

Then, His Beatitude spoke about the wonder of the descent of the Holy Light at the grace of Jesus Christ, our Lord, at Jerusalem: “The same as Jesus Christ, our Saviour, brought joy to the myrrh bearing women, so He brings this joy every year to all those who believe in Christ, but especially to those who are at the Holy Great Saturday at Jerusalem to pray at the Sepulchre of His Resurrection. In order to show that His Sepulchre is not empty but full of light and grace, of blessing and holiness, Christ, the Lord makes the wonder of the Holy Light at Jerusalem. This is not a usual light, because it is not produced by a source known to man. It is a gift, the gift of the blessing with joy, namely the Joy Light, a light which does not burn at the beginning, but it is a comforting, blessing light through itself.

The Light from Jerusalem is the gift of Christ’s merciful love for those who love Him

“This Light is given to those who pray to the Holy Sepulchre from which Christ was raised to life and arrived at us this year too, just like during all the other years from 2009 till now. Yet, this year our faithful could see live at Trinitas Television channel how the Holy Light came to the church of the Holy Sepulchre and how the Patriarch of Jerusalem gave it to all the people over there. This Joy Light was taken to various Orthodox countries and it arrived in many parts of the world as a sign of appreciation that Christ shows to those who believe in Him and love Him. The light from Jerusalem is the gift of the merciful love of Christ for those who love Him. The light of the Easter night, the light of the Gospel of the Resurrection of Christ where from all our candles are lit has the same value. This light is the very mysterious presence of Christ in our life.”

The Resurrection of Christ is Light for our life

His Beatitude Daniel underlined the spiritual significance of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord: “The joy of the Resurrection of Christ is given to all people, religious or not. This is why the religious service of the Resurrection of the Lord is celebrated outside the church, because all the peoples will resurrect in the afterlife and those who loved Christ and did His will in their life will receive the eternal Light of the Kingdom of the Most Holy Trinity from Him. The Resurrection of Christ shows us that His merciful, devoted and sacrificial love is stronger than the sin and wickedness of the humans and than the falseness of the demons. The Resurrection of Christ shows us that the justice of God is stronger than all the injustice committed by people throughout the history. The Resurrection of Christ is Light for our life. It should be mentioned the fact that after His Resurrection from the dead, Christ, our Lord,  has never met those who hated, tortured and killed Him, but only those who loved Him. In this sense, Saint John Chrysostom says that after His Resurrection, Christ never appeared to those who hated and killed Him not to consider His encountering them as reproach. In other words, Christ, the Lord risen from the dead does not impose His love to anybody, but only proposes it and it is up to the freedom of the man if he chooses communion of eternal love in the Kingdom of God or eternal selfish loneliness. However, Christ’s love is shown as peace, joy and light in our souls.”

To end with his speech, the Patriarch of Romania urged us to take the Joy of the Resurrection of the Lord to those in distress: “Let us convey the peace and joy of the Risen Christ to those around us, to the dear ones of our family, to our acquaintances, neighbours, as well as to the sick and lonely. Let us pray for the Romanians from everywhere, as well as for the Christians persecuted in the world, in various countries, and for those in armed conflict who mourn their dead or injured”.

The feast of the Resurrection of the Lord continued with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom in the Patriarchal Cathedral.

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