Ecumenical Patriarch to the Young: You can
turn the pandemic of fear and disease into an opportunity for support
and love for your fellow human beings.
The Glorious Resurrection of the Lord was celebrated in the Center of
Orthodoxy with special splendor and solemnity, and in accord with
longstanding ecclesiastical tradition and order.
The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew presided at midnight on Holy
Saturday at the Resurrection service in the courtyard of the Ecumenical
Patriarchate, surrounded by the clergy of the Patriarchal Court, and
then addressed a Message for the Feast of Holy Pascha to the entirety of
the Church, and especially to young people, to whom he has dedicated
the current year 2020. He made a particularly moving reference to the
Orthodox Christian youth living in Turkey, in a heterogeneous
environment and coming from various ethnic minorities, living under the
affection and care of the local, First-Throned Church of Saint Andrew
the Apostle.
Specifically, the Ecumenical Patriarch said:
Christ is Risen!
The joyful message of the Resurrection, of the victory of life over
death, resonating in the Oikoumene, beats in the heart of every
believer.
Christ is risen again and again and again!
We celebrate Pascha, living in a world that continues to face poverty
and injustice, violence and confrontation, and which, this year, is now
being tested very severely by the pandemic of the coronavirus. And
humanity stands in awe and frightened in the face of this fact, which
has overturned everything we considered, of course, self-evident and
constant.
However, the Resurrection of our Lord is the expectation and hope for
a better future for the person who is suffering today, in pain and
anguish. We announce tonight the victory of Christ over death as the
true source of optimism and hope from this corner of the earth, from the
Center of Orthodoxy, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, where for centuries
we have continued to live crucified, to transmit the light of Christ and
to preach love and brotherhood. The triumphant and cosmopolitan paean
of hope “Christ is risen” reminds us that the pain of passion is always
followed by the joy of the Resurrection.
In this unexpected ordeal for humanity, we would like to address in
particular the young men and women of the world, saying to them: Our
dear children, you should know that through today’s, but also every
trial, we can all become better, cultivating the virtues of patience and
faith, since, according to the Apostle Paul, “suffering produces
endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces
hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been
poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to
us.” (Romans 5:3-5).
Dear young people,
Today you are more than ever the hope and the future of humanity. Not
only as a natural, law-abiding evolution of things, but as individuals,
who will be called upon to bear the brunt of their burdens and to take
responsibility for tackling problems, for the preservation of
traditions, for freedom, justice and solidarity. Humanity needs your
dreams and sensibilities, your dynamism and your will, your visions for a
better world. To protect the creation of God, our common home and the
natural environment.
Do not be afraid of any pandemic, nor of the economic difficulties we
hear that will come. You can turn the pandemic of fear and sickness
into a time of support and love for your fellow human beings, for every
human being. We are all brothers and sisters on this earth that is now
groaning and struggling.
I would like, in particular, to extend paschal and paternal greetings
to the young Orthodox men and women who live here, closer to our
Patriarchate: Romans, Turks, Russians, Ukrainians, Romanians, Georgians,
Bulgarians, Gagauzians, and all nationalities -- where you can, my
children, though speaking a different language and having a different
culture, what unites you, unites us, is the common Orthodox faith, the
faith in the Risen Christ, the Redeemer, whose beloved children you are.
And further, it unites you that you all belong to the First-Throned
Church, our Ecumenical Patriarchate, as long as you live, permanently or
temporarily, in this historic City, and also within the limits of its
jurisdiction.
We hope that as soon as the conditions allow, we will hold the
scheduled conference of all Orthodox youth in Turkey, and then we will
have the opportunity to discuss our common problems and common visions
for the present and the future of our Orthodox Church in this place,
with which it is inextricably linked.
Until then, I embrace you all paternally, our dear young men and
women, and I wish you, long with as all the young people of our
well-known provinces, all the blessings of the Risen Christ. I cordially
greet your families and we invite you all to proclaim together
solemnly: “Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!”
Then the Ecumenical Patriarch celebrated the Divine Liturgy of the Resurrection.