Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Christ is Risen!

The traditional Orthodox icon of today’s feast shows not the resurrected Christ on earth, but His descent into Hades before His Resurrection. Here He, through His divine power, breaks down the gates of Hell, and pulls out from there, our helpless forefather Adam and foremother Eve. His radiant light enlightens the darkness of that awful place. Thus today we celebrate the resurrection of Christ as “the first begotten of the dead” (Revelation 1: 5), and, as a consequence of His Resurrection, also the resurrection of all mankind from Adam to us.

In today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles we heard the following words of our risen Saviour: “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Мe both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

Through our baptism we mystically participate in the death and resurrection of the Saviour. We are submerged in water, like Christ was placed in a cave, and we come out like a new person just as the Lord came out of the tomb resurrected. After baptism we receive the power of the Holy Spirit and are called to witness, through our Christian way of life, unto Christ to the surrounding world. Let today’s bright and joyous feast be, for each of us, a day of moral and spiritual renewal or resurrection, so that once again the power of the Holy Spirit visits us from heaven, and so that we become bright witnesses unto the resurrected Christ, wherever we may be and unto the ends of the earth.

I congratulate all of you with the feastday. I miss everyone and can’t wait to once again pray, Commune, and discuss spiritual and church matters together.

Christ is Risen!

priest Alexis