His Holiness Patriarch Kirill’s Paschal greeting to the heads of non-Orthodox Churches

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia sent Paschal greetings to the heads of the non-Orthodox Churches. Among his addressees are Pope Francis, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos Karekin II of All Armenians, Archbishop Justin Welby of Canterbury, and Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, chairman of the EKD Council. The text of the message is given below.

I wholeheartedly congratulate you on the great and world-saving feast of Holy Pascha and extend to you the joyful greeting:

CHRIST IS RISEN!

 On this radiant day we glorify Jesus Who rose from the dead and through death destroyed him that had the power of death (cf. Heb. 2:14). Giving praise to the Lord for His ineffable goodwill to humanity, let us promote cooperation among Christians in the name of the triumph of God’s truth and for strengthening in society high evangelical ideals of charity, kindness and mercy, and truly spiritual and moral values.

May the All-Wise Creator Who hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled (1 Pet. 1:3-4), grant you strength, good spirits and His abundant mercies.

With love in the Risen Lord,

+KIRILL

PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA