Na srpskom - cirilica: http://www.eparhija-prizren.com/default.asp?idvestep=2891
==
http://www.eparhija-prizren.com/defaultE.asp?idvestep=2905
26. April 2008. 05:03
Bishop Artemije: Eeaster message
Source: Diocese of Ras-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija
CHRIST IS RISEN! - VERILY HE IS RISEN!
"Come, receive the light
of the never setting light
and glorify Christ who
has risenfromthedead!”
Withtheseall-joyouswords, mydearandfaithfulspiritualchildren,
wegreetandcelebratetheholiest of allChristianholy
dayswhichchurchhymnscallthe“Feastoffeasts” andthe“Celebration of
celebrations.”TheFeastoftheResurrectionofChristcompletesandgivesmeaningtoallotherChristianholydaysfromChristmas,
throughTheophany and Transfiguration, to Palm Sunday, as well as all other
feast days which commemorate saints and holy men and women who have found favor
in God’s eyes and whose names fill the calendar and the Menologion on this
earth and the Book of the Living in heaven.
HadthemissionofChristonearthendedonCalvary, onGoodFriday, inotherwords, had
ChristdiedontheCrossandbeenburiedinthegraveinGethsemane,hadHenot,
asHehadpromised,risen on the third day, He would have been and remained the
only Christian in the history of the world. The Resurrection of Christ, the
greatest miracle in the universe, is attested to and confirmed more
convincingly than the very existence of this world.
The entire history of Christian Church for the past two thousand years has been
one mighty, loud and clear sermon on Christ’s Resurrection. All holy Apostles,
saints, martyrs and all of us, contemporary Orthodox Christians represent one
continuous, uninterrupted sermon on the truth of Christ’s Resurrection.
For forty days after His glorious Resurrection, Our Lord manifested Himself to
many and varied people. He manifested Himself first to the Myrrh Bearing Women,
then to His Apostles, then to Apostle Thomas, then to a group of 500 brethren
and many others, testifying to and confirming His
Resurrection.Thesemanifestationsandtestimoniesdidnotinspire“faith” inthepeople
who saw them; it created within them “knowledge” that the Lord had
risen.Onlythisknowledge, basedonverifiableevidence,
couldexplainthefactthatmanyofthose whohadseenit,
especiallytheHolyApostlesandlatertheHolyMartyrs, theNewMartyrs,
rightuptoourtimes, gavetheirbloodandtheirverylivesas proof of their faith in
and their teaching about the Resurrected Lord.
It is through His Resurrection that Christ Our Lord showed in the most
undeniable way that He is truly God and truly Man. He revealed the meaning and
the goal of every man’s existence on this earth, which is that the man was
created for immortality not death. Before Our Lord and before His Resurrection
death ruled over mankind. Death mowed down and swallowed up man after man and
generation after generation. Death, the greatest enemy of humankind was
vanquished by Christ’s Resurrection, and a way to life everlasting was opened
and made passable for man. Our churches prove this, and so do our graves. In
our churches we address not the dead but the living. When we call upon the most
Holy Mother of God, when we pray to Saint Nicholas, Saint George, Saint Petka
Paraskeva we pray to living people who found favor in God’s eyes and, because
of that, now find courage before God and love for us enabling them to pray to
God and intercede for
us.Whenwevisitthegravesofourdearones, wevisittheliving, notthedead.
Weshowourloveand our respect for them, we show that we care for
them.Wedothisthroughourprayers, throughtheprayers of our Church, through the
great requiem services and memorial services. We treat our dead as we do those
who still live with us on this earth.
Forallthesereasons, mydearspiritualchildren,
weexperiencethefeastofChrist’sResurrectionas the most joyous feast, as the
feast “created by Our Lord for us to be glad and rejoice in it.” This spiritual
joy is felt by every Christian soul no matter what material circumstances it is
in.ThejoyofResurrectionisfeltintimeofwarasintimeofpeace, in freedom as in
slavery, when we are in our homes and when we are exiled from them.
Hereweare, OrthodoxSerbsofKosovoandMetohija, celebratingfortheninthyear in
successiontheResurrectionofChristinmiseryandsuffering, amidthehorrorsofwar,
amidpost-warpersecutions, besieged byenemy threats and the lack of
understanding.Thisyear,
ourcircumstanceshavegreatlydeterioratedbecauseoftheillegitimate,
unilateralproclamationofKosovo’sindependenceandbecausethisillegitimateactwasrecognizedbya
number of powerful states. This fact cannot and must not lessen our resolve or
dim our spiritual joy. Because the greater our suffering, the more severe our
pain, the closer we resemble our suffering Lord, the greater the joy that the
Feast of Resurrection will give us.
Our Lord has shown us that “there is no Resurrection without death, as there is
no Pascha without Good Friday.” This is the source of our hope and consolation
because it assures us that our suffering and our Calvary also will end in the
resurrection of our people, in their renewal and spiritual
rebirth.Inthiswayweshalltrulyandpersonallylivethewordsof the prayer of Christ
as High Priest: “Father, I want for my servant also to be where I am.” We are
like true servants of Christ, like Christodouls and Theodouls, with Him, with
Our Lord, in suffering, on Calvary, in all known and unknown gravesscattered
throughout the world.
That is what gives us hope and firm belief that we shall be with Him in His
Kingdom after the resurrection of the dead.Tothis
hopeletusaddalsoourlabortomakeourlivespleasingtoGod, blameless,and peaceful,
sothatwecangivetherightanswerattheDreadJudgmentofChrist.
Withthesethoughtsandprayerfulwishes, ourdearspiritualchildren,
wewishyouagainanabundanceofspiritualjoy, hopeandcapacitytoendure and
sendyoutheall-joyful, ancientgreeting
CHRIST IS RISEN! – VERILY HE IS RISEN!
YoursinOurResurrectedLordJesusChristwithour prayersand goodwishes
Bishop of Raška and Prizren
and of Kosovo and Metohija
+АRTEMIJE
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