Heads of Ukrainian Churches greet faithful on Easter

On the eve of the Resurrection of Christ according to the Julian calendar, the Primates and hierarchs of the Ukrainian Churches turned to believers and clergy with messages dedicated to this lightsome feast.

“Through His Resurrection, Christ gives us strength to oppose sin. He resurrects our souls and inspires us to selflessly serve our people, our state in the name of love for God and man. The Resurrection of Christ gives us the hope that Christ the Savior, who overcame death, has authority and over our miseries, griefs and difficulties. He accepts crises in human society, wars between peoples; He stops them, but for this purpose, we must turn to God with all our heart, all our lives. He wants all people to believe in Him, change their unjust way of life, and enter into eternal life for bliss.

On these joyous Easter days, I warmly greet you, esteemed archpastors, God-loving shepherds, honest monks and nuns, beloved brethren and sisters, on the feast of the Resurrection of Christ. I extend my Easter greetings to President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, the Verkhovna Rada, Ukrainian government, our glorious defenders – the Armed Forces of Ukraine who did not spare their lives for the love of their homeland. I greet you on the greatest Christian holiday, all of Ukrainian people and all Ukrainians who live outside Ukraine on all continents, but love Ukraine and help it,” said Patriarch Filaret (Denisenko) of the UOC KP.

“Today, the Lord himself is comforting us – he changes our sadness to joy, as it happened to the Myrrh-bearing Women. They went to the Lord’s tomb, and returned full of true joy in God. They were walking in the darkness of hopelessness, but they received the light of the Risen and told the apostles and the whole world that Christ was truly resurrected. Let this “miracle, a miracle of all miracles" changes us and through us, our society and country, wherever we lived.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ! Let the victory of Jesus Christ over death and evil dispel our doubts and restore hope and joy in our hearts. To all of you, in Ukraine and in the settlements, I send my heartfelt greetings with sincere prayers. All the soldiers and their families, all settlers, all those who cry in the occupied territories and in the Crimea, all persons held captive and prisoners for the sake of their conscience, for their own sake and for the sake of love for Ukraine, for all the sick and the suffering, for the fact that they are working abroad, to each of you I wish first of all the joy of God! I sincerely wish you the blessed Easter holidays, delicious sacred eggs and light Easter joy!

The grace of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all!” said Patriarch Svyatoslav (Shevchuk) of the UGCC in his Easter message.

“Today, dear brothers and sisters, we live in a world that knows Christ, knows about His glorious Resurrection, but unfortunately, not in all of us a grain of truth about the Resurrection of Christ brings salvific fruits, because for this we have to courageously and persistently cultivate the ground of our hearts and purify it from sin. Some of us postpone this work for later, or are unwilling to do it at all, do not want to fight against personal sin. We do not want to bother and force us to turn away from untruth, from personal pride that mercilessly destroys us. We foolishly float along the course of worldly life distorted by human pride and try to build our happiness not on the commandments of Christ, but on our earthly achievements, successes and lucky events, forgetting that you will not build happiness on this grounds.

Should a man rule the whole world and take possession of all its treasures, even than he cannot be happy if his soul is not cleansed of sins. Man cannot be happy if he does not pray to drink living water from the Divine Source of Life.

Let's remember this, dear brothers and sisters, and be careful about our salvation. Let our daily life be with us, as the last, in our care of our lives with God, about our spiritual happiness ... Once again, I congratulate you all, dear brothers and sisters, with the joyous feast of the glorious Resurrection of Christ, with the Great Day of Christ's Passover! I wish you all health, happiness, salvation and blessings of God,” Primate of the UOC (MP), Metropolitan Onufriy (Berezovsky) writes in his Easter greetings.

“My dear children beloved in Christ! For the fourth year at a run there is no peace on our land, because the war lasts. Try our sincere, daily prayer to address the Risen Lord, changing our daily lives. If the Lord sees these changes in the life of each of us, He will grant His blessing to win a victory in this war, as well as the blessed peace. Therefore, devout Christians, let us fulfill the holy law of our Savior to become partakers of His blessed peace brought to Him on earth: " Much peace have they that love thy law ..." (Psalms 118:165). Without a just daily life, it is not possible to attain this peace. Today, many times we hear the slogans: “For us it is true”, “We will win”, but if this truth is only in words, and not in everyday life of every Ukrainian, we will not be able to obtain anything from the Lord.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ! I urge you to have a daily, sincere prayer for peace in our land, as soon as possible for the end of the war and for our Ukrainian military, so that the Lord may help them to continue defending our Ukrainian land, our Ukraine and all Ukrainians.

Your Eminences and Graces, priests, monks and nuns, brothers and sisters! I sincerely greet you all on the lightsome Resurrection of Christ. I wish you spiritual joy and peace in our long-suffering war against the Ukrainian land. May the Risen Christ bless all of us, our state, Ukraine, our power and all the defenders with unity, prosperity and our heavenly peace.

Merry and joyful holidays to you!” the head of the UAOC, Metropolitan Makariy Maletych extends his wishes.

“I sincerely congratulate you on the bright and joyful holiday - the holiday of Christ's Resurrection!

CHRIST IS RISEN!

The Resurrection of Christ has shown to all mankind and for all ages the great force of God's Truth – for it is eternal, of God’s love – because it is immortal, of life – because it is stronger than death, as it is written: “That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 1:20).

The central theme of the sermons of the apostles was the theme of the resurrection of Christ, and as a result of His feat, our resurrection with Him.

I wish you to trust the Risen, to love, and with all my heart to serve Him, so that the Word of Christ may be fulfilled  “... to be with me where I am ...” (Jn. 17:24).

CHRIST IS RISEN!

Indeed He is risen – greetings of Mykhaylo Panochko, the senior bishop of the Church of Christians of Evangelical Faith of Ukraine.