“For a Christian, Easter is probably the most important day,” His Holiness said. “On this day, we remember the sacrifice which Christ did for our salvation.”
“Christ really saved us by His death and resurrection,” Patriarch Kirill says. “Being innocent, He took all our sins upon Himself. This doesn’t mean, however, that after Christ’s resurrection, everyone is, so to say, automatically free. He only gave us a possibility to be free, but it depends on us whether to use this possibility or not. Speaking figuratively, Christ only unlocked the doors of our prison cells, but to be free, we have to stand up and walk out ourselves.”
For some reason, within the last several years, atheistic and anti-Church sentiments have activated in Russia. Some people say that religion is an outdated thing that can only brake the development of a modern society. Patriarch Kirill disagrees with that:
“Being free without religion is an illusion,” he says. “Any person who tries to be free without religion would sooner or later realize this. Only living in Christ makes a person free.”
“However, being free is sometimes uneasy,” His Holiness continues. “Everybody knows that if a country wants to be independent, it sometimes has to fight against enemies. A similar thing happens to a person – if he or she wants to be free, he or she often has to fight against many worldly temptations.”
“I would like to address all Orthodox Christians,” the Patriarch concluded. “Doing acts of charity and peace is, of course, very good. Please do all that – but please never forget that the main thing for salvation is to believe in Christ and His sacrifice.”
Information:
Easter is a Christian festival and holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after his crucifixion at Calvary as described in the New Testament. Easter is the culmination of the Passion of Christ, preceded by Lent, a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance. The last week of Lent is called Holy Week, and it contains the days of the Easter Triduum, including Maundy Thursday (also known as Holy Thursday), commemorating the Last Supper and its preceding foot washing, as well as Good Friday, commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus. Easter is followed by a fifty-day period called Eastertide, or the Easter Season, ending with Pentecost Sunday.
In Eastern Christianity, the spiritual preparation for Easter begins with Great Lent, which starts on Clean Monday and lasts for 40 continuous days (including Sundays). The last week of Great Lent (following the fifth Sunday of Great Lent) is called Palm Week, and ends with Lazarus Saturday. The Vespers which begins Lazarus Saturday officially brings Great Lent to a close, although the fast continues through the following week. After Lazarus Saturday comes Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and finally Easter itself, and the fast is broken immediately after the Paschal Divine Liturgy.
The Paschal Vigil begins with the Midnight Office, which is the last service of the Lenten Triodion and is timed so that it ends a little before midnight on Holy Saturday night. At the stroke of midnight the Paschal celebration itself begins, consisting of Paschal Matins, Paschal Hours, and Paschal Divine Liturgy. Placing the Paschal Divine Liturgy at midnight guarantees that no Divine Liturgy will come earlier in the morning, ensuring its place as the pre-eminent "Feast of Feasts" in the liturgical year.
The liturgical season from Easter to the Sunday of All Saints (the Sunday after Pentecost) is known as the Pentecostarion (the "fifty days"). The week which begins on Easter Sunday is called Bright Week, during which there is no fasting, even on Wednesday and Friday. The Afterfeast of Easter lasts 39 days, with its Apodosis (leave-taking) on the day before Ascension. Pentecost Sunday is the fiftieth day from Easter (counted inclusively).
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