Archpastoral Message of His Eminence Pascha 2026

“So I beseech you…let us keep God’s commandments with all our might, so that we might enjoy both present and future good things, that is, the very vision of Christ. To this may we all attain by the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto Whom be glory unto the ages. Amen.”  ~~~ Saint Symeon the New Theologian

To the Reverend Clergy, Monastics, and Faithful of the Diocese of the South:

Beloved in the Risen Lord,Pascha has come, radiant, all-joyful, and full of light. Yet, as the holy Symeon the New Theologian reminds us, this feast is not only a remembrance of what once occurred, but a mystery that is given to us now: the Resurrection of Christ is revealed, not only in the past, but within the very depths of the human heart.

For Christ is risen, not as a distant event to be admired, but as a living power to be known. He descends into the tomb of our repentance, enters into the hidden places of the soul, and raises us up with Himself. This is the true Pascha: that we who were dead through sin might live again through union with Him Who is Life.

And so the Church dares to say not “having believed,” but “having beheld the Resurrection of Christ.” For the Gospel entrusted to us is…