His Holiness Patriarch Kirill sends Easter greetings to heads of non-Orthodox Churches

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia sent Easter greetings to heads of non-Orthodox Churches: Patriarch Tawadros II of the Coptic Church; Pope Francis; Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, head of the Syrian Jacobite Church; Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos Karekin II of All Armenians; Mar Gewargis III Sliwa, Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East; Maronite Patriarch Béchara Boutros Cardinal Raï; Malankara Metropolitan Baselios Marthoma Paulose II, Catholicos of the East; Patriarch Abune Matthias of Ethiopia; and other Primates.

The message reads:

“I wholeheartedly congratulate you on the great and radiant Feast of Holy Easter, addressing you with this joyful greeting:

CHRIST IS RISEN!

On this glorious day of great solemnities we are singing praise to Our Lord Jesus Who came ‘to give his life a ransom for many’ (Mt 20:28) and on the third day rose from the dead.

As St. Gregory the Theologian wrote, ‘we need God to take our flesh and die, that we might live.  We have died with him, that we may be purified. We have risen again with him, because we have died with him. We have been glorified with him, because we have risen again with him’ (Oration 45:32). Let us praise the Saviour of the world, strengthening in society the intransient Evangelic ideals of love and mercy, goodness and justice.

I wish you radiant Easter joy, strength and help from the Lord in your ministry, and I wish peace and prosperity to your flock.”