Unto the Venerable Clergy and the Pious Faithful of the Holy Metropolis of Pisidia.
Beloved Fathers, Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
“This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!” (Ps. 117:24). “The day of Resurrection, let us be radiant, O peoples! Pascha, the Lord’s Pascha; for Christ God has brought us from death to life, and from earth to heaven, as we sing the triumphal song.” (Paschal canon, ode 1). Indeed, the day of Pascha fills our hearts with joy and gladness each year. But this jubilation does not simply stem from the celebration of a myth, nor of a past event, for the day of the resurrection is for us a present event that transports us toward the future, into the beatitude of the eternal Kingdom of God.
The resurrection of Christ is recounted in the four Gospels by eyewitnesses, the apostles, who, moreover, traced the historical life of our Lord Jesus Christ in their writings in light of their lived experience after the Lord’s radiant resurrection. Thus, all the historical events of our Lord’s life are interpreted and presented in the light of the encounter with the risen Christ, an encounter that marks the authenticity of the apostolic kerygma.
Saint Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles and the founder of the Church of Pisidia, was also worthy to encounter the risen Christ on the road to Damascus (Ac. 9:4). As he writes, “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile” (1 Cor. 15:17). The resurrection of Christ is therefore not simply a historical event of the past, but an event that concerns our future, that concerns the ultimate purpose of God’s creation. Indeed, Saint Paul affirms: “if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised” (1 Cor. 15:13). According to him, the risen Christ appears as the head of the universal resurrection and subdues all evil powers under his feet, abolishing death forever (1 Cor. 15:23-26, 52-57). For this reason, our traditional Byzantine iconography represents the Resurrection of Christ as His descent into Hades and the liberation of Adam and Eve, personifying all of humanity, from the bonds of death.
And each of us, through our baptism, has become a witness and participant in the resurrection of Christ, as Saint Paul writes: “Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.” (Rom. 6:3-4). And this renewal which comes about in us through the holy mystery of baptism, through our personal participation in the Paschal Mystery, must transform our way of life, as the Apostle to the Gentiles exhorts us: “So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above… for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. … Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed… get rid of all such things: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth” (Col. 3:1-9).
Indeed, the Lord’s resurrection introduces the believer into the eternal Kingdom of God, which is the ultimate goal of our lives, and allows us to share with him the banquet of his Kingdom right now through the holy mystery of the Eucharist. It is remarkable that during the forty days following his Resurrection, the risen Christ appeared and ate with his disciples, breaking bread (Lk. 24:13-35; Jn. 21:1-14). Similarly, the Acts of the Apostles emphasizes that early Church broke bread, that is, performed the holy mystery of the Eucharist, “with gladness” (Acts 2:46) precisely because the Resurrection manifested God’s victory over his enemies, thus announcing the coming of the Kingdom of God into human history.
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, all of us who are baptized must have in our hearts the same feelings as the holy apostles Luke and Cleopas, who walked with the risen Christ on the road to Emmaus: “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was talking to us on the road, while He was opening the scriptures to us?” (Lk. 24:32). May our hearts also burn with joy at the presence of the risen Christ in our lives! “Come let us share in the new fruit of the vine, in divine joy, and in the Kingdom of Christ, on the glorious day of the Resurrection, as we sing his praise as God to all the ages” (Paschal canon, ode 8). Christ is risen!
Antalya, Pascha 2026
+ Job of Pisidia
