PATRIARCHAL
ENCYCLICAL
FOR HOLY PASCHA
FOR HOLY PASCHA
Prot.
No. 270
† B
A R T H O L O M E W
BY
GOD’S MERCY
ARCHBISHOP
OF CONSTANTINOPLE-NEW ROME
AND
ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH
TO
THE PLENITUDE OF THE CHURCH: MAY THE GRACE, PEACE AND MERCY
OF
CHRIST RISEN IN GLORY BE WITH YOU ALL
*
* *
Dearest brother Hierarchs and
beloved children in the Lord,
Having
arrived at Holy Pascha and becoming partakers of the joy of the
Resurrection, we praise the Lord of glory, who trampled down death by
death and resurrected with Him the entire race of Adam, opening for
us all the gates of paradise.
The
splendid Resurrection of Christ is the confirmation that what
prevails in the life of the world is not death, but the Savior who
abolished the dominion of death. Formerly known to us as the Word
without flesh and subsequently as the Word who assumed flesh for us
on account of love for humankind, who died as man and was risen with
might as God, He is the Savior who will come again in glory to fulfil
the Divine Economy.
The
mystery and experience of the Resurrection constitutes the core of
the ecclesiastical life. The radiant worship, the sacred mysteries,
the life of prayer, fasting and ascesis, pastoral ministry and good
witness in the world – all of these emanate the fragrance of
Paschal joy. The life of the faithful in the Church is a daily
Pascha, “a joy from above,” “the joy of salvation,” as well
as the “salvation as joy.”1
This
is why the services of Holy and Great Week are not gloomy but filled
with the victorious power of the Resurrection. There, we discover
that the Cross does not have the last word in the plan for the
salvation of humankind and the world. This is foreshadowed already on
the Saturday of Lazarus. The raising from the dead of Christ’s
intimate friend is a prefigurement of the “common resurrection.”
The hymn “Today is hung upon the wood [of the Cross]” comes to a
climax in the invocation “Show us, too, your glorious
Resurrection.” Before the Epitaphios, we chant “I magnify your
Passion, I praise your burial, together with your Resurrection.”
And during the Paschal service, we resoundingly declare the true
meaning of the Cross: “For behold, through the Cross, joy has come
into the whole world.”
The
“chosen and holy day” of Pascha is the dawn of the “eighth
day,” the first-fruit of the “new creation.” The experience of
our own resurrection, the great “miracle of my salvation.”2
It is the lived affirmation that the Lord suffered and was led to
death for our sake and that He rose from the dead for us
“foreshadowing for us the resurrection for boundless ages.”3
Throughout the Paschal period, we hymn with unparalleled poetry the
anthropological meaning of the resplendent Resurrection of Christ,
the Passover of humankind from slavery to genuine freedom, “the
progression and ascension from below to the above and to the promised
land.”4
This salvific renewal in Christ is realized in the Church as a
dynamic extension of the Eucharistic ethos in the world, as “speaking
the truth in love,” as synergy with God for the transfiguration of
the world, so that the world may be rendered an image of the fullness
of the final revelation of the divine love in the Kingdom of the last
times. Living in the risen Lord means proclaiming the Gospel “to
the ends of the earth,” in the manner of the Apostles; it is the
witness in practice of the grace that has appeared and the
expectation of the “new creation,” where “death shall be no
more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more.”
(Rev. 21.4)
Faith
in the Resurrection of Christ and in our own co-resurrection does not
deny the painful presence of death, pain and the cross in the life of
the world. We do not suppress the harsh reality or secure for
ourselves, through faith, a psychological assurance before death.
However, we know that the present life is not life in its entirety,
that here we are “sojourners,” that we belong to Christ and that
we are journeying to His eternal Kingdom. The presence of pain and
death, no matter how tangible these may be, does not constitute the
ultimate reality. That lies in the definitive abolition of death. In
the Kingdom of God there is neither pain nor death, but never-ending
life. “Before your precious Cross,” we chant, “death is
terrifying for human beings; but after your glorious Passion,
humankind is terrifying for death.”5
Faith in Christ grants us power, perseverance and patience to endure
trials. Christ is the one who “heals us from every illness and
delivers us from death.” He is the one who has suffered for us and
has revealed to us that God is “always for us” and that God’s
love for us belongs intrinsically to God’s truth. This hopeful
voice of divine love is echoed in Christ’s words to the paralytic
“take courage, my child” (Matt. 9.2) and to the woman with the
issue of blood “take courage, daughter” (Matt. 9.22), in His
words “take courage; I have overcome the world” (John 16.33)
before the Passion, and to the imprisoned Apostle of the Gentiles,
threatened by death, “take courage,
Paul” (Acts 23.11).
The
present pandemic of the novel coronavirus has demonstrated how
fragile we are as human beings, how easily we are dominated by fear
and despondency, how frail our knowledge and self-confidence appear,
how antiquated the notion is that death comprises an event at the end
of life and that forgetting or suppressing death is the proper way of
dealing with it. Limit situations prove that we are incapable of
handling our existence resolutely, when we believe that death is an
invincible reality and insurmountable boundary. It is difficult to
remain human without the hope of eternity. This hope lives in the
hearts of all doctors, nurses, volunteers, donors and all those
generously supporting their suffering brothers and sisters in a
spirit of sacrifice, offering and love. In this indescribable crisis,
they radiate resurrection and hope. They are the “Good Samaritans”
that, at the risk of their own lives, pour oil and wine on wounds;
they are the modern-day “Cyrenaeans” on the Golgotha of those
lying in illness.
With
these thoughts, most honorable Hierarchs and dearest children in the
Lord, we glorify the name of the Risen Lord which is above all names,
the source of life from His own light, who illumines the universe
with the light of the Resurrection. And we pray to Him, the physician
of our souls and bodies, who grants life and resurrection, that in
His ineffable loving-kindness He may condescend to the human race, in
order to grant us the precious gift of health and direct our steps on
the straight ways, to vouchsafe the divine gift of our freedom in the
world, foreshadowing its perfection in the heavenly Kingdom of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Christ is
Risen!
At
the Phanar, Holy Pascha 2020
†
Bartholomew of
Constantinople
Your
fervent supplicant to the Risen Lord
----------------------------------------------
1
The
Journals
of Father Alexander Schmemann 1973-1983
(Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2000), 137.
2
Gregory the Theologian, On
the Holy Pascha,
PG
36.664.
3
Gregory Palamas, On
the Holy Ascension,
PG
151.277.
4
Gregory the Theologian, op. cit., 636.
5
Doxastikon
of the Vespers of September 27.
ΠΑΤΡΙΑΡΧΙΚΗ
ΑΠΟΔΕΙΞΙΣ
ΕΠΙ Τῼ ΑΓΙΩι ΠΑΣΧΑ
ΕΠΙ Τῼ ΑΓΙΩι ΠΑΣΧΑ
Ἀριθμ.
Πρωτ. 270
† Β
Α Ρ Θ Ο Λ Ο Μ Α Ι Ο Σ
ΕΛΕΩι
ΘΕΟΥ ΑΡΧΙΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΣ
ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΥΠΟΛΕΩΣ
- ΝΕΑΣ ΡΩΜΗΣ
ΚΑΙ
ΟΙΚΟΥΜΕΝΙΚΟΣ ΠΑΤΡΙΑΡΧΗΣ
ΠΑΝΤΙ
Τῼ
ΠΛΗΡΩΜΑΤΙ ΤΗΣ ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑΣ ΧΑΡΙΝ, ΕΙΡΗΝΗΝ
ΚΑΙ EΛΕΟΣ
ΠΑΡΑ
ΤΟΥ ΕΝΔΟΞΩΣ ΑΝΑΣΤΑΝΤΟΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ
*
* *
Προσφιλέστατοι
ἀδελφοί
Ἱεράρχαι
καί
τέκνα
ἐν
Κυρίῳ
ἀγαπητά,
Φθάσαντες
τό
Ἅγιον
Πάσχα
καί
γινόμενοι
κοινωνοί
τῆς
χαρᾶς
τῆς
Ἀναστάσεως,
ὑμνοῦμεν
τόν
πατήσαντα
θανάτῳ
τόν
θάνατον
Κύριον
τῆς
δόξης,
τόν
συναναστήσαντα
μεθ᾿
ἑαυτοῦ
παγγενῆ
τόν
Ἀδάμ
καί
ἀνοίξαντα
πᾶσιν
ἡμῖν
παραδείσου
τάς
πύλας.
Ἡ
λαμπροφόρος
Ἔγερσις
τοῦ
Χριστοῦ
εἶναι
ἡ
διαβεβαίωσις
ὅτι
κυρίαρχος
εἰς
τήν
ζωήν
τοῦ
κόσμου
δέν
εἶναι
ὁ
θάνατος,
ἀλλά
ὁ
καταργήσας
τό
κράτος
τοῦ
θανάτου
Σωτήρ,
ὁ
γνωριζόμενος
τό
πρότερον
ὡς
ἄσαρκος
Λόγος,
ὕστερον
δέ
ὡς
ὁ
δι᾿
ἡμᾶς,
φιλανθρωπίας
ἕνεκεν,
σεσαρκωμένος,
νεκρωθείς
δέ
ὡς
ἄνθρωπος
καί
ἀναστάς
κατ᾿
ἐξουσίαν
ὡς
Θεός,
ὡς
ὁ
πάλιν
Ἐρχόμενος
μετά
δόξης
πρός
πλήρωσιν
τῆς
Θείας
Οἰκονομίας.
Τό
μυστήριον καί τό βίωμα τῆς Ἀναστάσεως
ἀποτελεῖ τόν πυρῆνα τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς
ζωῆς. Ἡ ὁλόφωτος λατρεία, τά ἱερά
μυστήρια, ἡ ζωή τῆς προσευχῆς, ἡ
νηστεία καί ἡ ἄσκησις, ἡ ποιμαντική
διακονία καί ἡ καλή μαρτυρία ἐν τῷ
κόσμῳ, ὅλα ἀναδίδουν τό ἄρωμα τῆς
Πασχαλίου εὐφροσύνης. Ἡ ζωή τῶν πιστῶν
ἐν Ἐκκλησίᾳ εἶναι καθημερινόν Πάσχα,
εἶναι «ἄνωθεν χαρά», ἡ «χαρά τῆς
σωτηρίας», ἀλλά καί «ἡ σωτηρία ὡς
χαρά»1.
Οὕτω,
αἱ ἀκολουθίαι τῆς Ἁγίας καί Μεγάλης
Ἑβδομάδος δέν εἶναι καταθλιπτικαί,
ἀλλά πλήρεις τῆς νικητηρίου δυνάμεως
τῆς Ἀναστάσεως. Εἰς αὐτάς ἀποκαλύπτεται
ὅτι ὁ Σταυρός δέν ἔχει τόν τελευταῖον
λόγον εἰς τό σχέδιον τῆς σωτηρίας τοῦ
ἄνθρώπου καί τοῦ κόσμου. Αὐτό
προαναγγέλλεται ἤδη κατά τό Σάββατον
τοῦ Λαζάρου. Ἡ ἐκ νεκρῶν ἔγερσις τοῦ
ἐπιστηθίου φίλου τοῦ Χριστοῦ εἶναι
προτύπωσις τῆς «κοινῆς ἀναστάσεως».
Τό «Σήμερον κρεμᾶται ἐπί ξύλου»
κορυφοῦται μέ τήν ἐπίκλησιν «Δεῖξον
ἡμῖν καί τήν ἔνδοξόν Σου Ἀνάστασιν».
Ἐνώπιον τοῦ Ἐπιταφίου ψάλλομεν τό
«Μεγαλύνω τά Πάθη σου, ὑμνολογῶ καί
τήν Ταφήν Σου, σύν τῇ Ἀναστάσει». Καί,
γεγονυίᾳ τῇ φωνῇ, διακηρύσσομεν εἰς
τήν Πασχάλιον ἀκολουθίαν τό ἀληθές
νόημα τοῦ Σταυροῦ: «Ἰδού γάρ ἦλθε διά
τοῦ Σταυροῦ χαρά ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ κόσμῳ».
Ἡ
«κλητή καί ἁγία ἡμέρα» τοῦ Πάσχα εἶναι
ἡ ἀνατολή τῆς «ὀγδόης ἡμέρας», ἡ
ἀπαρχή τῆς «καινῆς κτίσεως», ἡ βίωσις
τῆς ἰδικῆς μας ἀναστάσεως, τό μέγα
«θαῦμα τῆς ἐμῆς σωτηρίας»2.
Εἶναι ἡ βιωματική βεβαιότης ὅτι ὁ
Κύριος ἔπαθε καί ἤχθη εἰς θάνατον δι᾿
ἡμᾶς καί ἀνέστη δι᾿ ἡμᾶς «προοικονομῶν
ἡμῖν τήν εἰς ἀπείρους αἰῶνας
ἀνάστασιν»3. Καθ᾿ ὅλην τήν Πασχάλιον περίοδον
ὑμνολογεῖται μέ ἀπαράμιλλον ποιητικότητα
τό ἀνθρωπολογικόν νόημα τῆς λαμπροφόρου
Ἀναστάσεως τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἡ διάβασις
τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἀπό τῆς δουλείας εἰς
τήν ἀληθῆ ἐλευθερίαν, «ἡ ἐκ τῶν κάτω
πρός τά ἄνω καί τήν γῆν τῆς ἐπαγγελίας
πρόοδος καί ἀνάβασις»4.
Αὐτή ἡ σωτηριώδης ἐν Χριστῷ ἀνακαίνισις
ἐνεργεῖται ἐν τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ ὡς δυναμική
προέκτασις τοῦ ἤθους τῆς Εὐχαριστίας
ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, ὡς «ἀληθεύειν ἐν ἀγάπῃ»,
ὡς συνέργεια μετά τοῦ Θεοῦ διά τήν
μεταμόρφωσιν τοῦ κόσμου, διά νά καταστῇ
οὗτος εἰκών τῆς πληρότητος τῆς τελικῆς
ἐπιφανείας τῆς θείας ἀγάπης ἐν τῇ
Βασιλείᾳ τῶν Ἐσχάτων. Ζῆν ἐν Χριστῷ
ἀναστάντι σημαίνει ἐξαγγέλλειν τό
Εὐαγγέλιον «ἕως ἐσχάτου τῆς γῆς»,
κατά τό ὑπόδειγμα τῶν Ἀποστόλων, εἶναι
ἔμπρακτος μαρτυρία περί τῆς ἐλθούσης
χάριτος καί τῆς προσδοκίας τῆς «καινῆς
κτίσεως», ὅπου «ὁ θάνατος οὐκ ἔσται
ἔτι, οὔτε πένθος οὔτε κραυγή οὔτε
πόνος οὐκ ἔσται ἔτι»5.
Ἡ
πίστις εἰς τήν Ἀνάστασιν τοῦ Χριστοῦ
καί εἰς τήν ἰδικήν μας συνανά-στασιν
δέν ἀρνεῖται τήν ἐπώδυνον παρουσίαν
τοῦ θανάτου, τοῦ πόνου καί τοῦ σταυροῦ
εἰς τήν ζωήν τοῦ κόσμου. Δέν ἀπωθοῦμεν
τήν σκληράν πραγματικότητα, οὔτε
ἐξασφαλίζομεν εἰς τόν ἑαυτόν μας, διά
τῆς πίστεως, ψυχολογικήν κάλυψιν
ἀπέναντι εἰς τόν θάνατον. Γνωρίζομεν
ὅμως ὅτι ὁ παρών βίος δέν εἶναι
ὁλόκληρος ἡ ζωή, ὅτι ἐδῶ εἴμεθα
«ὁδῖται»˙ ὅτι ἀνήκομεν εἰς τόν Χριστόν
καί ὅτι πορευόμεθα πρός τήν αἰώνιον
Αὐτοῦ Βασιλείαν. Ἡ παρουσία τοῦ πόνου
καί τοῦ θανάτου, ὅσον ἁπτή καί ἄν
εἶναι, δέν ἀποτελεῖ τήν ἐσχάτην
πραγματικότητα. Αὐτή εἶναι ἡ ὁριστική
κατάργησις τοῦ θανάτου. Εἰς τήν Βασιλείαν
τοῦ Θεοῦ δέν ὑπάρχει πόνος καί θάνατος,
ἀλλά ἀτελεύτητος ζωή. «Πρό τοῦ Τιμίου
Σταυροῦ Σου», ψάλλομεν, «φοβερός ὁ
θάνατος τοῖς ἀνθρώποις˙ μετά τό ἔνδοξον
πάθος, φοβερός ὁ ἄνθρωπος τῷ θανάτῳ»6.
Ἡ πίστις εἰς Χριστόν δίδει δύναμιν,
καρτερίαν καί ὑπομονήν διά νά ἀντέχωμεν
τάς δοκιμασίας. Ὁ Χριστός εἶναι «ὁ
πᾶσαν νόσον ἰώμενος καί ἐκ τοῦ θανάτου
λυτρούμενος». Εἶναι ὁ παθών δι᾿ ἡμᾶς,
ὁ ἀποκαλύψας τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ὅτι ὁ
Θεός εἶναι ὁ «ἀεί ὑπέρ ἡμῶν», ὅτι
εἰς τήν Ἀλήθειαν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀνήκει
οὐσιωδῶς ἡ φιλανθρωπία Του. Αὐτή ἡ
εὐκταία φωνή τῆς θείας ἀγάπης ἀντηχεῖ
εἰς τό «θάρσει, τέκνον» τοῦ Χριστοῦ
πρός τόν παραλυτικόν καί τό «θάρσει,
θύγατερ»7
πρός τήν αἱμορροοῦσαν, εἰς τό «θαρσεῖτε,
ἐγώ νενίκηκα τόν κόσμον»8
πρό τοῦ Πάθους καί εἰς τό «θάρσει,
Παῦλε»9
πρός τόν ἐν φυλακῇ καί ἀπειλῇ θανάτου
Ἀπόστολον τῶν Ἐθνῶν.
Ἡ
σοβοῦσα πανδημία τοῦ νέου κορωνοϊοῦ
ἀπέδειξε πόσον εὔθραστος εἶναι ὁ
ἄνθρωπος, πόσον εὐκόλως τόν κυριεύει
ὁ φόβος καί ἡ ἀπόγνωσις, πόσον ἀδύναμοι
ἀποδεικνύονται αἱ γνώσεις καί ἡ
αὐτοπεποίθησίς του, πόσον ἕωλος εἶναι
ἡ ἄποψις ὅτι ὁ θάνατος ἀποτελεῖ ἕν
γεγονός εἰς τό τέλος τῆς ζωῆς καί ὅτι
ἡ λήθη ἤ ἡ ἀπώθησις τοῦ θανάτου εἶναι
ἡ ὀρθή ἀντιμετώπισίς του. Αἱ ὁριακαί
καταστάσεις ἀποδεικνύουν ὅτι ὁ ἄνθρωπος
εἶναι ἀνίκανος νά διαχειρισθῇ σθεναρῶς
τήν ὕπαρξίν του, ὅταν πιστεύῃ ὅτι ὁ
θάνατος εἶναι ἡ ἀνίκητος πραγματικότης
καί τό ἀνυπέρβλητον ὅριον. Εἶναι
δύσκολον νά παραμείνωμεν ἀνθρώπινοι
ἄνευ τῆς ἐλπίδος τῆς αἰωνιότητος.
Αὐτή ἡ ἐλπίς ζῇ εἰς τήν καρδίαν ὅλων
τῶν ἰατρῶν, τῶν νοσηλευτῶν, τῶν
ἐθελοντῶν, τῶν δωρητῶν καί ὅλων τῶν
γενναιοφρόνως συμπαρισταμένων εἰς
τούς πάσχοντας ἀδελφούς, μέ θυσιαστικόν
πνεῦμα, αὐτοπροσφοράν καί ἀγάπην. Μέσα
εἰς τήν ἀνείπωτον κρίσιν, αὐτοί
εὐωδιάζουν ἀνάστασιν καί ἐλπίδα. Εἶναι
οἱ «Καλοί
Σαμαρεῖται»,
οἱ ἐπιχέοντες, μέ κίνδυνον τῆς ζωῆς
των, ἔλαιον καί οἶνον ἐπί τάς πληγάς,
εἶναι οἱ σύγχρονοι «Κυρηναῖοι»
εἰς τόν Γολγοθᾶν τῶν ἐν ἀσθενείαις
κατακειμένων.
Μέ
αὐτάς τάς σκέψεις, τιμιώτατοι ἀδελφοί
καί προσφιλέστατα τέκνα ἐν Κυρίῳ,
δοξάζομεν τό ὑπέρ πᾶν ὄνομα τοῦ
Ἀναστάντος Κυρίου, τοῦ πηγάζοντος ζωήν
ἐξ οἰκείου φωτός καί φαιδρύνοντος τῷ
φωτί τῆς Ἀναστάσεως τά σύμπαντα,
δεόμενοι Αὐτοῦ, τοῦ ἰατροῦ τῶν ψυχῶν
καί τῶν σωμάτων, τοῦ παρέχοντος ζωήν
καί ἀνάστασιν, ὅπως συγκαταβαίνων, ἐν
τῇ ἀφάτῳ Αὐτοῦ φιλανθρωπίᾳ, τῷ γένει
τῶν ἀνθρώπων, χαρίζηται ἡμῖν τό
πολύτιμον δῶρον τῆς ὑγείας καί κατευθύνῃ
τά διαβήματα ἡμῶν εἰς ὁδούς εὐθείας,
διά νά καταξιωθῇ ἡ θεοδώρητος ἐλευθερία
ἡμῶν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ, προτυποῦσα τήν
τελείωσιν αὐτῆς ἐν τῇ ἐπουρανίῳ
Βασιλείᾳ τοῦ Πατρός καί τοῦ Υἱοῦ καί
τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος.
Χριστός Ἀνέστη!
Φανάριον, Ἅγιον
Πάσχα
,βκ´
† Ὁ
Κωνσταντινουπόλεως
διάπυρος πρός Χριστόν Ἀναστάντα
εὐχέτης
πάντων ὑμῶν.
----------------------------------------------
1
π. Ἀλεξάνδρου Σμέμαν, Ἡμερολόγιον,
ἐκδ. Ἀκρίτας Ἀθήνα 2003, σ. 223.
2
Γρηγορίου τοῦ Θεολόγου, Εἰς
τό ἅγιον Πάσχα,
PG
36,
στ. 664.
3
Γρηγορίου Παλαμᾶ, Εἰς
τήν Ἀνάληψιν,
PG
151, στ. 277.
4
Γρηγορίου Θεολόγου, ὅ.π., στ. 636.
5
Ἀποκ. καʹ, 4.
6
Δοξαστικόν Ἑσπερινοῦ κζʹ Σεπτεμβρίου.
7
Ματθ. θʹ, 2 καί 22.
8
Ἰωάν. ιστʹ, 33.
9
Πράξ. κγʹ, 11.