In his Easter encyclical this year, His Grace Bishop Sofronie of Oradea points to the sad state of today’s world “in agony” compared to the splendour of the “Empress of feasts,” which cannot be overshadowed by anything.
“We celebrate with great joy, but also with great, but measured, pomp, with enthusiasm, the Resurrection of Christ, the Son of God who rose from the dead. Even if the world around us is not infrequently hostile or, to put it mildly, unfriendly to Christians,” the Bishop of Oradea wrote in his annual pastoral letter for Holy Pascha.
“And even if the spectacle of today’s world is a rather sad one, it has no power to overshadow in any way the splendour of the Empress of feasts, and the pessimism prevailing in the universe of contemporary systems of thought, combined quite often with cynicism and misanthropy, hatred and contempt for one’s neighbour, has not succeeded in spoiling the simple joy and Christian paschal gladness, however much it has tried to do so and spared no effort and wasted no energy in this regard.”
“Because God has not forsaken us, ‘God is with us’ being the mystical reality of the Christian life, of the worldly time of the believer, and Christ’s humble disciple. Because let us not forget, the Saviour rose on the third day from the dead, before the resurrection, there was the death on the cross of the Lamb of God, the sinless One crucified for the sins of all humanity.”
“Humankind is in agony. Precisely because humanity is in danger of death, we so much need God’s help to overcome temptations, fear, and human fears caused by our fallen mind, to deliver us, to save us,” Bishop Sofronie noted.
“Let us be vigilant, but also pray, being ready at any time to meet the Bridegroom of the Church, the One risen from the dead on the third day, the High Priest and Shepherd of our souls,” the Romanian Orthodox Bishop of Oradea concluded.
Photography courtesy of the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Oradea
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