Metropolitan Konstantin of Zaraisk sent Paschal Epistle to the priests, deacons, monastics and all the faithful of the Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa.
Dear fathers, brothers and sisters!
Christ is Risen!
I wholeheartedly greet you on Our Lord’s Pascha.
Pascha is a feast of love.
For God has loved us as His own children. We were under the yoke of death under the dominion of sin, in need of salvation, and God did save us.
In His love He went to the very end. He came into this world, underwent suffering and death for each of us. « For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life» (John 3:16).
For us He was resurrected, so that we could become partakers of His love, of happiness: not short-lived happiness, but eternal happiness.
Pascha is not just an event in the life of our loving Lord. We are called upon to experience Pascha as a personal event in our own lives. First of all, this is a call to love God, and secondly, to love our neighbour as Christ commands, thus imitating Him: «A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another» (John 13:34).
All of those who are near to us are in need of our love. Love not as some sort of emotional state, but rather that which means action, sacrifice and a fullness of participation in the lives of others, primarily, our neighbours.
We can imitate Christ by serving everyone, helping everyone, trying not to retreat but rather to go forth in love until the very end for the sake of others. This indeed is Christianity.
May the Risen Christ strengthen you all as you follow Him.
I invoke God’s blessing upon you all.
Christ is truly risen!
Metropolitan of Zaraisk,
Patriarchal Exarch of Africa
Of the Russian Orthodox Church
Easter
20th of April, 2025
