Dear brothers and sisters!
We warmly congratulate everyone on the bright days of the feast of the Resurrection of Christ! We wish you to meet and spend this great Feast of feasts and Triumph of Christian triumphs in peace and spiritual consolation, in good health and every well-being!
May the Risen Christ sustain and renew your strength, so that you may always stand firm and unshaken on that rock which is Christ. It is good and joyful to be in His will in all things.
Pascha is a feast we have known since childhood — bright, abundant, jubilant. From all sides one hears the joyful "Christ is risen!" and in reply the equally joyful "Truly He is risen!" On the tables are kulich, dyed eggs and paskha made of curd cheese. People visit one another, give and receive greetings. It is joyful, beautiful and delicious… But that is not the most important thing. The most important thing is that Pascha is the day of Christ's Resurrection — the day when you and I were set free from sin and eternal death, and gained the possibility of Paradise and closeness to God.
Pascha was preceded by Great Lent, a time of intensified repentance and prayer. All of us tried to become at least a little better, to root out of our souls at least one of our sins. Some succeeded; others have only begun the journey. And so the time of the Feast drew near.
On the night from Saturday to Sunday the faithful gathered in the church for the procession of the cross and the festive service. The procession of the cross symbolizes the journey of the Myrrh-bearing Women to the tomb of Jesus Christ, when they brought spices to anoint the Body of the Savior. On arriving, the Myrrh-bearers saw an Angel, who announced the Resurrection of the Lord. During the procession the faithful carry candles in their hands as a symbol of the spiritual joy of Christ's Resurrection.
After the procession of the cross, the rector of the church, Priest Igor Babakov, in his sermon reminded all those gathered of the days when Jesus was betrayed and crucified on the Cross, and of His Resurrection; of the soldiers who stood guard over the Body of the Savior so that the apostles could not steal it, and how astonished those soldiers were when they saw that Christ had risen. They were even paid money not to tell of the miracle they had seen, but the news of Christ's Resurrection nevertheless became known to all.
A worthy culmination of the celebration for all the faithful in our church was receiving the Holy Mysteries of Christ.
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