Easter Address of the Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine Epiphanius to the Most Reverend Archpastors, God-loving Pastors, Honest Monks, and All Orthodox Faithful of Ukraine
Dear brothers and sisters,
Christ is Risen!
As simple as these words may seem, how profound they are for us, because we do not just support the tradition by congratulating each other on yet another holiday. With these words, we proclaim our own faith in the victory of the Son of God and call our neighbors and all mankind to this faith.
What is this victory? It’s not only that Christ, Who had been betrayed, unjustly condemned, crucified and buried as dead, rose from the dead and returned to life. And before that, by the will of God, miraculous resurrections took place, such as the resurrection of Lazarus, who had been in the tomb for four days. However, even such miracles could not change the general power of death over humanity. Only the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ was a victory over death itself, opening eternal life to all.
“Death! Where is your sting? Hell! Where is your victory?” we repeat today the words of the Apostle Paul, which St. John Chrysostom also reminds us of, and continue: “Thank God, who gave us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:55, 57).
When the Savior miraculously raised the dead, by His power He overcame the consequences of the Fall, and through His own death and resurrection Christ overcame the very cause of human death — the slavish submission of our nature to sin. That is why the Scriptures call this event a victory, because not only for one or even many, death has receded for a while, but for all mankind it has been overcome forever. Thanks to the resurrection of Christ, all people who have come into being throughout history, on the day of the end of the world, when the Lord comes with glory to complete the Judgment, will rise from the dead.
Through the fall of Adam and Eve, evil entered our nature, captivated mankind, turned people into its slaves and is killing us all, because death is the result of the power of evil over us, but through the Son of Man – our Lord Jesus Christ – death is overcome at its core, for the power of sin and evil over man is eradicated. Having risen, the Lord overcomes the action of evil in His human nature, and through this He becomes victorious for all people, destroying death as such.
The Apostle Paul testifies to this in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, saying: “As death through man, so also through man and the resurrection of the dead. As in Adam all die, so in Christ all come to life […] The last enemy to be destroyed is death ”(1 Cor. 15: 21-22, 26).
Therefore, when we believe that Christ rose from the dead, when we honor this event with a celebration and share it with everyone through greetings, we are also affirming faith in eternal life. We know that death, although it will come to us, will not be the final sentence, but a temporary reality, the end of which will be the general resurrection from the dead.
This knowledge, this faith helps us realize the value of everything we do, the meaning and value of our own life time, the value of talents and opportunities we have received from God. If our lives were limited to what we have now and ended in a grave, would anything really make sense? No matter how long a person lived and no matter what he achieved – good or bad – everything would be dispelled by the dust of death. However, our awareness of the immortality of the soul, realizing the inevitability of our own resurrection and the next endless, eternal life gives deep meaning and sense to everything we have here. Because in the way we live, what we do, what we achieve, what we overcome, what we are filled with, we determine our own eternity.
Christ’s resurrection not only confirms us in faith in our own resurrection, but also informs us of eternal retribution for both righteousness and sin. Our good results in eternal bliss, and our evil leads to eternal damnation. So, immortality and eternity await us all, but what they will be – depends on each individual.
That is why for all who do good and strive to multiply it, the news of Christ’s resurrection and the gift of eternal life we have received is a joy. But for sinners, for unbelievers, for murderers and slayers, the resurrection of Christ is a formidable call to repentance and a message of imminent and eternal retribution in the fiery hell prepared for the servants of the devil.
Dear brothers and sisters!
Today, when we greet each other on the Lord’s Passover, Easter, the enemy continues to shed blood of the innocent on our land. Despite the sanctity of Holy Week and the Resurrection of Christ for all Christians, not only did Russian troops not stop their crimes, but as if inspired by Satan himself, multiplied bloodshed. Throughout Lent, Russia, which considers itself a stronghold of true Christianity, has been destroying our cities and villages, killing innocent people, and annihilating everything it could. Isn’t this alone, aren’t all these poisonous, deadly fruits of the “Russian world” sufficient evidence that it is not God’s blessing but the curse on the cause of Russia, its rulers, its troops, its inhabitants poisoned by lies?
For us, for all those who suffer innocently from the empire of evil even today, on the day of Easter, the resurrection of Christ is a joyful reminder of God’s imminent victory over sin and lawlessness, of the victory of good and truth. And for the enemies who broke into our Ukrainian home, for the murderers and slayers who even in these holy days not only didn’t stop the bloodshed, but only multiplied it, the resurrection of Christ is a reminder of just retribution and merciless punishment for all the unmerciful.
When the Savior was crucified and buried in the tomb, the hearts of the faithful were filled with suffering and pain, but the resurrection of Christ turned weeping into joy, drove away sorrow, and strengthened hope. So it was in ancient times, so it is today – by celebrating the Passover of Christ, glorifying the risen Lord, we receive spiritual strengthening in the midst of the sufferings and horrors of war with confidence in the victory of truth and goodness, in the victory of eternal life over hell.
On this day of glorification of the great, eternal victory, with special feelings, we greet on Easter our courageous warriors-defenders, prayerfully wishing them blessings from the Risen Christ, victory in the fight against enemies, God’s help in service and gracious protection. We ask the Lord for protection and defense for all civilians suffering from Russian shelling. We pray for all the wounded in the war who are suffering in body and soul, and we ask the Lord to heal them.
May God’s blessing be upon those who sacrificially and lovingly serve their neighbors, those who help the needy, those who care for the displaced persons, those who speak out against untruth and in various ways contribute to a single cause: fighting darkness and evil.
On the day of this holiday, heartfelt congratulations and wishes of indomitable spirit, state wisdom, and strengthening of might in working for Ukraine – for our President, Government, and lawmakers, for community leaders, for all those who bear with dignity their responsibilities to the Ukrainian people at this time of challenge and tests.
In our celebration, we remember in prayer our enslaved brothers and sisters, those who are now living under the rule of the occupiers, and those who are in the chains of captivity or unjust imprisonment. May the Lord help you in this difficult time and bring the day of your liberation and freedom closer.
On the Resurrection of Christ, I cordially greet all Orthodox Christians of Ukraine – the fullness of the local Ukrainian Orthodox Church – and those who are temporarily out of communion with it. Let the war, the main cause of which was the malign idea of the “Russian world,” urge those who still hesitate to reject the Moscow spiritual yoke, follow the Tomos and the canonical order, and unite around the Kyivan throne in a single local Orthodox Church.
Congratulations on Easter to all who believe in the risen Christ, and all Ukrainians around the world!
Despite all pain and suffering, destruction and sorrow that the war has brought to our homes, nothing can take away the common joy that the Resurrection of Christ brings us today in the dark of the night and at the dawn of a new day in the new Ukraine. From heart to heart we share this joy, multiply it, announcing the great victory over sin, evil, and death, because truly
Christ is Risen!
Source: OCU website.
