Message for the Orthodox Easter
May 7, 2013
Your Beatitude,
Your Excellencies,
Dear representatives of the Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Lutheran Churches.
Dear Priests and Religious,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I greet you with the words that the Risen Lord addressed to his disciples: “Peace be with you.”
Three days ago, the light was brought from the Holy Sepulcher to almost all our parishes. Our faithful, without distinction, greeted the light in a solemn way as if it was Christ himself who defined himself as the light of the World.
On the first day of the creation, “God said, ‘let there be light!’” (Gen 1:3). At Easter, on the morning of the first day of the week, God said once again: “Let there be light”. “This light coming from the Tomb is the opposite of the night on the Mount of Olives, of the darkness which happened during the last hours of Jesus’ passion and death, and the opposite of the night of the grave. After Jesus’ resurrection, Life is stronger than death. Good is stronger than evil. Love is stronger than hate. Truth is stronger than lies…The darkness of the previous days is driven away the moment Jesus rises from the grave and himself becomes God’s pure light. With His resurrection, Jesus, draws all of us after him into the new light of the resurrection and he conquers all darkness. He is God’s new day, new for all of us.” (Benedict XVI, Easter 2012)
Despite Jesus’ Resurrection and the enlightenment he brought to us, many people prefer darkness to light. Our Christian communities in Syria are living, along with all the Syrian people, the darkest moments of their history. Death, killing, hunger, and the lack of water and electricity. We cannot forget the kidnapping of SyriacOrthodox Archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim and Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Aleppo PaulYazigi, who also is the brother of Patriarch John of Antioch and All the East. They were abducted on their way back to Aleppo from a town on the Turkish border where they were carrying out “humanitarian work.”
As they approached the city, they were met by an armed group who forced them out of the car. The assailants killed the bishops’ driver before taking them hostage.
From Jerusalem, where light defeated darkness, we ask all the political leaders of the international community to work together for the release of the two Bishops and to put an end to the tragedy of the Syrian people. Enough violence! Enough bloodshed!
There is also another issue concerning our Easter celebrations in Jerusalem on both calendars. We are grateful for all that is being done to organize the Easter week around the Holy Sepulcher and in the Via Dolorosa. At the same time, we ask the Israeli authorities to make Jerusalem more open to pilgrims all through the year, during the Holy Week and especially on the Holy Saturday. On that day, many pilgrims suffered for not being able to reach the Old City, and fornot reaching the Holy Sepulcher from the gates o the Old City. We need to find ways to render the Old City more accessible and more open to them. For this purpose, it is better to coordinate the Holy Week together with the Police authority.
Dear brothers, our joint collaboration is very important in order that we ourselves be the light and example for our faithful, through our unity and brotherly love. Again, happy Easter. May the light of Christ enlighten our hearts and minds.
+Fouad Twal
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem