This year, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the blessed repose of Archbishop Nikon (Rklitsky; +1976) of Washington & Florida, the Eastern American Diocesan Media Office will be sharing more materials from this life of this eminent archpastor of the Russian Church Abroad, presented in the original old orthography, along with translations into the English, available for the first time.

On the Leavetaking of Pascha we offer the following Paschal sermon by Archbishop Nikon. A collection of earlier translations is available here.

Christ is Risen!

"Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world" (Matt. 28:20). From these words of the Lord Jesus Christ – Who rose from the dead and appeared to all eleven Apostles on a mountain in Galilee, where they had gathered in accordance with a special command from an Angel conveyed to them through the Myrrh-bearing Women, as the Holy Evangelist Mark recounts: "Go your way, tell His disciples and Peter that He goeth before you into Galilee" (Mark 16:7) – it is evident beyond doubt that these words of the Lord, spoken through the Apostles, are addressed to His entire Church. For the Apostles themselves, shortly after the Resurrection of their Teacher, received the crown of martyrdom; yet the Holy Church endures unto the end of the world, and the Lord – invisibly, yet truly and actually – abides within it "always"; thus, He abides also among us sinners. The King of glory abides among us – He to Whom all authority has been given in heaven and on earth; that is, the Almighty and All-Perfect God abides among us, in His essence incomprehensible to our feeble minds, yet pouring into our hearts His grace-filled, compassionate love, which transforms us and makes us sons of His eternal Kingdom. To this manifestation of Himself – during which the Lord gave His Church the command to establish His Kingdom throughout the world – the Lord attaches a significance of particular importance; indeed, He had forewarned the Apostles of it even before His Passion on the Cross, at the Mystical Supper: "After I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee" (Matt. 26:32) – and now, the Angel had reminded them of this very promise.

It is on this feast of the Resurrection of Christ, more than at any other time, that all those who are "pious and love God" are able, through their spirit, to sense – and through their spiritual vision, to perceive – the presence among us of the Lord of glory, Who rose from the dead and granted us the resurrection of our souls.

Piety – that is, the right, good, and true veneration of God – is attained by living according to the rules of the Holy Church: by leading a church-centered life. There are now relatively few such people, individuals whom some refer to with respect, while others mockingly label "church people." These are the people who consciously participate in the life of the Holy Church: they partake of Christ’s Holy Mysteries, make diligent confession, cherish the holy feasts and understand their distinct nature and significance; they love to pray – both in church and in their homes, morning and evening; they heed the voice of their conscience and strive to follow it; they read the Holy Scriptures and take an interest in spiritual literature; they love to converse on spiritual matters; they observe the holy fasts; they cherish their church and their pastors; and they keep watch over the life of their own souls. These are the elements from which piety is forged. And if one approaches such a life with even a measure of attentiveness and respect, then therein lies the very beginning of piety – the first glimmerings of it.

But if one deems all these things unnecessary and treats them with disdain, then the feast of Christ’s Resurrection loses its spiritual significance, being reduced to nothing more than drinking and the eating of kulich.

Loving God consists in striving – to the best of one’s ability – to fulfill those two primary and fundamental commandments "on which hang all the Law and the Prophets" – that is to say, the commandments upon which are established the very existence of the universe, as well as general concord and harmony in life. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself'" (Matt. 22:37-39).

Thus, if we have acquired for ourselves at least the rudiments of piety and love for God, then on the feast of Christ’s Resurrection, we can – within our own soul (which by its very nature belongs to the spiritual realm and is just as invisible as the holy Angels) – encounter the Risen Lord. Moreover, we can perceive the Lord physically, through the organs of our senses, within His Church: by hearing sacred hymns and the narratives of Holy Scripture; by beholding sacred icons and the mystical rites performed by the clergy – rites that portray the Lord and the Heavenly spiritual world, for the reflection of which the earthly Church was established; and, finally, through the closest union with Christ the Savior in the Sacrament of Holy Communion and the reception of His grace-filled gifts into our souls.

If we have thus united ourselves with the Author of our life—the Lord—then we shall be enabled to fulfill the commandment given to us by Him: "Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you" (Matt. 28:19-20).

For us, the present moment is a time of exceptional favor for fulfilling the Lord’s commandment to proclaim His Resurrection from the dead throughout the entire world and among all nations. The circumstances of our lives have placed us in the closest possible contact with the peoples of the world. Many of us have had to enter into the very heart of the inner life of the nations among whom we dwell: to settle for long years in their homes, to stand shoulder to shoulder with them at the workbench, and to master their languages ​​and customs; indeed, many have taken wives or husbands from among them – that is to say, we have merged with the life of other nations in a manner unlike any other in the history of Christianity – never before, since its very inception, has any single people in the world merged with other nations so completely.

In these years of trial for our Fatherland, the Lord has placed us in circumstances of life wherein we might most successfully proclaim Christ, risen from the dead, to other nations: to proclaim Him both directly and indirectly; to proclaim Him not merely through the exposition of our Church’s teachings, but to proclaim Him through our very lives. Moreover, this latter form of proclamation is accessible to absolutely everyone and can be supremely effective and powerful. This method of preaching requires neither special missionary training, nor specialized theological knowledge, nor even a command of foreign languages. If you bear the image of Christ within your heart and manifest it to the world around you, this constitutes the strongest, most potent form of proclamation. It is, of course, commendable to be able to articulate the essence of the spiritual life to people in their own native tongue; yet it is far more important to demonstrate that spiritual life through one’s deeds. And to do this, we must first acquire that spiritual life ourselves, making it the true substance of our own souls.

Behold – the Feast of feasts and the Triumph of triumphs: the glorious Resurrection of Christ! Serving simultaneously as a national holiday for the Russian people, it stands as that very center – that very sun – around which our entire spiritual life revolves; it is the true inception of eternal glory, bathed in the rays of Christ’s Resurrection, which illumines our Church and, through Her, the entire world that surrounds us.

"Let the heavens be glad as is meet, and let the earth rejoice, and let the whole world, both visible and invisible, keep the feast: for Christ is risen, O gladness eternal!"