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We have all strived, more or less, to become confessors of the Resurrection. For each one of us, beginning ten weeks ago, has prepared for this magnificent moment in which we now find ourselves, for the glorious Resurrection. We have strived to follow Him, to receive light from Light and to become, each one of us, a witness of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

What is the light we bear in our hands? It reminds us not only of the light that descends at the Holy Sepulchre, but also of that light that each of you has acquired and are exerting yourselves to acquire.

As I mentioned, even beginning ten weeks ago, the Church has prepared us for this holy day and for this salvific night. For, truly, this is a salvific night. Each of us bears witness to this, not only by proclaiming with our lips: “Christ is risen!” and “Truly He is risen!”, but also by seeking to give to others from what we have acquired during this Great Lent.

This night is full of the divine grace and joy of the light of Christ’s Resurrection. From here, each one of you will go home. Some of you, after a day or two, will return to work abroad. I confess to you that, at the beginning, when our Romanian brethren began departing to foreign lands, I became scared and didn’t bless their initiative. I was against it. But I’ve seen that there is great need in material terms. And then I started thinking that maybe God has a mission for us Romanians in the Europe of today, which has distanced itself from God.

We rejoice that in our schools, religion classes are held. Just as we need air, water, and food, likewise we need religion in schools so that children may grow up upright, with a clear mind.

The parents among you bear a holy responsibility before our holy ancestors, before the light that you have received within you during this period and especially during the weeks leading up to Holy Pascha. Because what have you acquired through the Mystery of Confession and through Holy Communion? You have painted the Face of Christ in your hearts through the virtues you have practiced and continue to practice: through deep love, through mercy, through humility, through serving your neighbor, through lending a hand, through giving money, through helping an elderly person, through knocking at the door of a lonely elderly person and bringing him food. Through all these virtues, you’ve shown yourselves to be confessors.

The witness you bear, in word and in deed, needs people to receive it and bear it along further. For our nation and country will live if they are founded upon Christian values. Therefore, we need to bear witness before history and before our descendants of who we were, of who we are, and of who we desire to be. For we don’t want to be scattered, but rather united.

Don’t forget that our strength lies in our unity, for “where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). In His prayer, Christ said: “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours… And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one” (John 17:9,22).

Among those whom God gave His Son, we, the Romanian nation, are also numbered. We also find ourselves in Jesus’s prayer. Therefore, my advice to you on this holy day is to bear witness. To put a stop to sin, to put a stop to that which belittles us, and, in word and in deed, to show the world that we are truly right-believing Christians, who have a living God Who acts and helps us to surpass all the difficulties and weaknesses that come upon us.

Wherever you are called, whether further away or closer to home, be confessors of Christ’s Resurrection in deed and in word. Lift your gaze with hope away from the earth, don’t remain bent over toward fleshly pursuits, but rather fix your gaze on Christ with serenity and confidence.

Christ is risen!

Archimandrite Melchisedec Velnic
Abbot of Holy Putna Monastery
From the homily given on Pascha night, 2023