To the Reverend Clergy & Monastics, the Esteemed Parish Council Officers & Archons of the Order of St. Andrew, to our Youth and Young Adults, and to all the Faithful of the Metropolis of Atlanta:
My dear brothers and sisters in the Resurrected Lord, “Let no one grieve over sins; for forgiveness has dawned from the tomb. Let no one fear death; for the Death of our Savior has set us free. He has destroyed it by enduring it.” — St. John Chrysostom’s Paschal Homily
I greet you with love and joy in the name of our Risen Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ! Χριστὸς ἀνέστη! Christ is Risen!
Indeed, the love with which this message is written is the highest joy that an Orthodox Christian can experience. In my first Pascha as the Metropolitan of Atlanta, it is my fervent prayer that the Love and Joy of Christ will fill our hearts and lives, now and always.
As I continually reflect on the path my life has taken, I am naturally inclined to think on my beginnings, and my beloved homeland of Cyprus. This icon of the Anastasis can be found in the Church of Archangel Michael Trypiotis in Nicosia, a city still divided due to the illegal occupation. Perhaps this year above all others, we are meant to reflect that when our Lord submits to His voluntary Passion, He embraces all those who live under division and pain, especially our Orthodox Christian Brothers and Sisters throughout the world.
While we regrettably live in such an era, we are comforted in the knowledge that by taking on suffering, and rising from the grave, our Resurrected Lord overturns all grief and sorrow. Only in His ineffable condescension to suffer through real division and pain did He reunite all those things which are divided. Therefore, even as we pray for a true spirit of Christ-like love to come upon our world, we know that Death has no more power, since it has come face to face with the Author of Life.
Praying that the joy of this Paschal season continues to heal all sorrow as it gladdens our hearts, all the days of our lives, I remain,
In the love and service of our Lord,
+SEVASTIANOS
Metropolitan of Atlanta
