Thousands of faithful who came to the Joy Hill of Bucharest received, in front of the Patriarchal Residence, the Holy Light brought from Jerusalem. Here, the religious service for the Resurrection of the Lord was celebrated by His Beatitude Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, 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.
During this holy service the Holy Gospel according to Matthew 28:1-16 was read.
The feast of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour or the Holy Easter is the light or the ultimate sense of man’s life, of history and of the universe, the Patriarch of Romania emphasised.
The ultimate purpose of man’s life on the earth is the preparation for the eternal heavenly life
His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel showed that man was created in the image of God and that man is called to live eternally: “The Resurrection of Christ from the dead shows us that man has not been created for death but for eternal life. His ultimate destination is not the darkness of the grave, but the light of the Kingdom of Heaven. Why that? It is because man is the only being created in the image of the eternal God, and this is why he is called to live eternally. Death was not created by God, but it was an accident or result of the sin of man’s disobedience to God, the Source of Life. This is why Saint Paul the Apostle says that the last enemy of man that will be dissolved or defeated will be death. We got used to it and sometimes we call it a natural phenomenon. The Holy Scriptures says that death is contrary to nature and that in fact only life is according to nature. Because Christ, the Crucified and Risen Lord defeated sin, hell and death, He gave us the eternal life. This is why He says: I am the Resurrection and Life, the one who believes in Me will not die but live and whoever lives and believes in Me will have eternal life. This means that the ultimate purpose of man’s life on the earth is the preparation for the heavenly life. We are only passing through here, to the Kingdom of Heaven, to the steady eternal city, in the Kingdom of the Most Holy Trinity. This truth is included in our Creed or symbol of faith, in which we say in its end: I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age to come. Sunday is the first day of the week and it illuminates every week of our life. Through the Resurrection of Christ the life of the Christian is focused on the universal resurrection and on the Kingdom of Heaven. This light of the resurrection of Christ is the light or ultimate sense of the Christian life. This is why we have burning candles in our hands on the Easter night, symbolising that we have learned what the sense of our life is, namely the Resurrection and Kingdom of God. Every day of the Christian’s life goes off under the blessing of the light and love of Christ. Every day we are called to gather light in our soul through good thoughts, words and deeds. The light that we gather in our soul during our life time is a sign or proof of the merciful love of Christ in our life and a foretaste of the light of the Kingdom of the Most Holy Trinity”.
History is the place where in spite of sin and wickedness we must confess the truth of the faith in God
The Patriarch of Romania underlined the fact that the Resurrection of Christ is the light or the ultimate sense of history: “The Resurrection of Christ who was unjustly crucified by the sinful men shows us that the justice of God never dies. He was unjustly sentenced to death, but God has raised Him from the dead and gave Him a glory and honour higher than any other glory and this thing shows us that the sense of our life is in the Risen Christ and that history is the place where in spite of sin, of the wickedness and of all the temptations that may come over us we must confess the truth of the faith of God, defend justice and do good. The Resurrection of Christ predicting the universal resurrection or inaugurating the universal resurrection shows us that we shall be judged as persons and as peoples on the last day, according to the criteria of our love for our fellow beings. This is why the Orthodox Resurrection celebration includes, at the beginning, the prophetic idea of universal resurrection and last judgement. God resurrects and His enemies go away and those who hate Him move away from Him – is a prophetic psalm which refers both to the Resurrection of Christ and to the universal resurrection when God judges the living and the dead. This thing shows us that God is against the wickedness and unjustness of the people in history”.
The Resurrection of Christ changes the space and time as separation and shows the man’s freedom towards any determinism of the fallen nature.
The Primate of the Romanian Orthodox Church has also shown that the resurrection of Christ is the ultimate sense of the universe: “The Holy Scriptures already tells us that the sky and earth that we see will end. Scientists predict the collapsing or destruction of the present solar system when the present universe, especially our solar system collapses. But the Holy Scriptures shows us that a new sky and a new earth will be that God gives as a reward to those who believed in Him. In the new sky and earth that the Revelation writes about there will no longer be death, tears or sorrow. This new sky and earth will include the New Jerusalem, the high Jerusalem, the heavenly one, which is God’s living together with the humans. The Lord will illuminate the city and night will no longer exist. Thus, the present universe began to change through the Resurrection of Christ because Christ does no longer come with His Body to the biological life mixed with sorrow and death, and He will never die again. His body passes through the locked doors, and first of all through the stone above His grave. The Resurrection of Christ changes the space and time and shows the man’s freedom towards any determinism of the fallen nature. Thus, the present universe which is degrading and decomposing will be replaced with a new sky and earth already inaugurated through the Body of the Christ Risen from the dead. This is why we shall sing tonight: Now all is filled of light, namely of sense, the sky and earth and those underneath. Everything gets sense in man’s life, the development of history and the ultimate destination of the universe”.
Let us always take the Joy of the Resurrection everywhere with us
To end with his speech, His Beatitude urged us to take the Joy of the Resurrection of the Lord to those in distress: “The Resurrection of the Lord is a source of peace, light and joy. It calls us to gather peace and joy in our souls as well as merciful devoted love and show them to those around us, especially to the poor, sick, distressed, and these days also to show our brotherly help to those who suffer because of the floods occurred. Let us always take with us the Joy of the Resurrection, the hope of the renewal of our life and glorify God through the light of the Christ Crucified and Risen from the dead who is in our souls, the light gathered through the Lent, confession, prayer, and Holy Communion as foretasting of our victory over sin and death. On the occasion of the feast of the Holy Easter we address you all fatherly best wishes of good health and salvation, peace and joy and the Pascal greeting Christ is Risen!
The celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord continued with the Divine Liturgy of John Chrysostom in the Patriarchal Cathedral.
