“Christ as God remains a mystery. He shines hidden by His divine nature, unreachable by human nature, being the luminous abyss of divine darkness, the source and providential guide of all,” emphasized Bishop Ioan Casian of Canada in his Easter pastoral letter.
His Grace reflected on how the light of Christ becomes the light of humanity, drawing on a hymn from Saint Symeon the New Theologian:
“Being a hidden Sun to all mortal nature, / You rise for Your own and are seen by them, / and in You arise those who once were darkened—wasteful, sinful, tax collectors. / For in repentance they become children of Your divine light (John 12:36). / Light gives birth to light, / therefore they too are light, / children of God, as it is written (John 1:12), gods by grace.”
“Out of love for our humanity, Christ reveals Himself in each of us who receive Him, so that we might grow in Him like fruitful branches bearing good fruit. It is a mutual movement between God and man. Though invisible and incomprehensible, God rises within each of us, and man grows in God,” wrote Bishop Ioan Casian.
He emphasized that, according to St. Symeon, this growth requires a key condition—repentance. “Through repentance, we gain access to God’s grace. When we act in faith and partake in God’s uncreated energies, His light becomes our light. Thus, we ourselves become light.”
The Manifestation of Divine Light in the Human Person
His Grace went on to describe how divine light is manifested in the human person and expressed through concrete action.
Quoting Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae, the bishop said:
“The human person becomes a communicator of light through speech, through actions, through a smile, through their face—even through their very presence; and a seeker of light especially through hearing and the reflection in the eyes. The meanings expressed through the eyes make the whole face eloquent. The human being appears as a dialogical existence and, for this reason, also a reflective one. Both of these qualities reveal him as light and mystery without end.”
“Man carries within himself this dialogical and mysterious dimension that makes him like God. In his personal and communal life, he mirrors the intra-Trinitarian dialogue. Man is the image of God moving toward His likeness.”
“This dimension is translated into daily life through word and deed, through the virtues embodied in personal life and manifested in social relationships and concrete actions. In this way, the human life becomes a reflection of the divine way of being—the goodness of God,” concluded Bishop Ioan Casian.
Photo: Doxologia / Flavius Popa
