The resurrection of Christ is the foundation of our faith, it is an indestructible support in our earthly life. By His Resurrection, Christ made it possible for people to comprehend the truth of His Divinity, the truth of His lofty teaching, and the salvific nature of His death. The resurrection of Christ is the completion of His life's feat. There could be no other end, for this is a direct consequence of the moral meaning of Christ's life.

If Christ had not risen, says the Apostle Paul, then our preaching would have been in vain, and our faith would have been in vain. But Christ rose and resurrected all mankind with Him! The Savior brought complete joy to people on earth. And so on Paschal night we hear the hymn in church and ourselves take part in this singing: "Thy Resurrection, O Christ the Saviour, the angels sing in heaven, and vouchsafe us on earth to glorify Thee with a pure heart."

He asked His Heavenly Father to grant people this great joy in prayer before the sufferings of the Cross: "Sanctify them with Thy truth... that they may have in them My perfect joy" (John 17:17, 13). And so, with the Resurrection of Christ, a new world of holiness, the truth of beatitude, was revealed to man. During His earthly life, the Savior repeatedly pronounced the words precious to the believing soul: "... I live, and ye shall live" (John 14:19), "My peace I give unto you" (John 14:27)

"These things have I said unto you, that my joy may abide in you, and that your joy may be complete" (John 15:11). A new life has opened up for man. He is given the opportunity to die to sin in order to be resurrected with Christ and live with Him. The Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Romans says: "If we are united to Him in the likeness of His death, we must also be united in the likeness of the resurrection...

If we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall live with Him." "Pascha, which opens the doors of paradise to us," we sing in the Paschal canon. There is no joy, my dear, brighter than our Paschal joy. For we rejoice that in the Resurrection our eternal life has been revealed. Our Paschal joy is the joy of transfiguration (change)

of our entire life into an incorruptible life, in our striving for undying goodness, for imperishable beauty. We now celebrate the performance of the greatest sacrament – the Resurrection of Christ, the victory of the Giver of Life over death! Our Savior triumphed over evil and darkness, and that is why the Paschal service of our Orthodox Church is so jubilant and joyful. The faithful awaited this solemn service, preparing themselves for it during the long weeks of the Holy Forty Days.

And it is natural that now their hearts are filled with inexplicable joy. The deepest meaning of Christ's Resurrection is in eternal life, which He gave to all His followers. For nearly 2,000 years, His followers have unwaveringly believed not only that Christ had risen, but also in their future resurrection for eternal life. During His earthly life, Christ the Savior spoke many times about Himself as the bearer of life and resurrection.

But at that time these words of the Divine Teacher were incomprehensible not only to the people who heard Him, but also to His disciples and apostles. The meaning of these words became clear only after the Resurrection of Christ. Only then did both the apostles and His disciples understand that He was indeed the Lord of life and the Conqueror of death. And they went preaching into all the world. We, beloved, joyfully greet each other in these days, saying: "Christ is risen!

" — and we will greet you in this way for 40 days, until the day of the Ascension of the Lord. Just two words! But these are wondrous words, expressing an unshakable faith in the truth about our immortality, which is most pleasing to the human heart. Christ is Life! He spoke many times of Himself as the bearer of life and resurrection, as the source of eternal life, never-ending for those who believe in Him. Christ is risen! — and let our soul rejoice in the Lord. Christ is risen! — and the fear of death disappears. Christ is risen!

— and our hearts are filled with joyful faith that after Him we will also be resurrected. To celebrate Pascha means to know with all one's heart the power and greatness of Christ's Resurrection. Celebrating Easter means becoming a new person. To celebrate Pascha means to thank and glorify God with all one's heart and mind for His ineffable gift – the gift of resurrection and love.

And in these days we rejoice and joyfully celebrate, praising and glorifying the feat of the victory of Divine love. Christ is risen!! Let us open our hearts to meet him who suffered, and died, and rose again for our sake. And He will come in and fill our lives with Himself and His Light, transforming our souls. And we, in response to this, will lovingly follow Him along our way of the cross, for at the end of it, undoubtedly, our resurrection into eternal life shines.

Celebrating Easter means becoming a new person. It is this salvific state of our souls, beloved, that I wish for all of us from the bottom of my heart! 1993   Homily for the 5th Sunday of Pascha, O Samaritans In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! Christ is risen! Our friends, the feast of Holy Pascha has already come to an end, and I am now inclined to give it away.

And the Church of Christ, our guide to salvation, condescending to the weakness of our weakened souls, again calls us to the source of living water, to the word of God, which alone can revive our soul, spirit and body. So today, like any Sunday, we look into the immeasurable, bottomless depth of this storehouse, so that everyone can draw from it according to their strength and ability the water of life.

Today we have heard the Holy Gospel, which tells of a conversation between Christ the Savior and the Samaritan woman Photinia at an ancient well dug out in the wilderness by the forefather James. There is no need to repeat the plot of the Gospel narrative again. But as we look into the depth of the events that took place at the Spring of Jacob, we see with trepidation that these sources of life continue to operate to this day and in our time.