Easter Encyclical

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew calls Resurrection message a ‘gospel of peace’ in Easter address

“The message of the Cross and the Resurrection resounds today as a Gospel of peace, reconciliation, and justice,” Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I said in his Easter pastoral message. His All-Holiness stressed the profound significance of the Resurrection, describing it as “the manifest victory of life over death, renews all creation, and opens to humanity the…

Apr 11, 2026Aurelian Iftimiu

Ecumenical Patriarch: Orthodox spirituality does not recognize the utopianism of a Resurrection without Crucifixion, nor the pessimism of the Cross without the Resurrection

“Orthodox spirituality does not recognize the utopianism of a Resurrection without Crucifixion, nor the pessimism of the Cross without the Resurrection,” noted His Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in his patriarchal encyclical for Holy Pascha. Full text: Patriarchal Encyclical for Holy Pascha of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew †Bartholomew By God’s Mercy, Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome and Ecumenical…

May 4, 2024Aurelian Iftimiu

Metropolitan Teofan’s Easter encyclical calls for prayer for those troubled by war

“Let us show a merciful heart towards those in need. Let us raise a thought of prayer for our fellows whose lives are troubled by the war in Ukraine, in the Holy Land and other parts of the world,” Metropolitan Teofan of Moldavia and Bukovina urged in his Easter encyclical. At the same time, His Eminence Metropolitan…

May 3, 2024Aurelian Iftimiu

Australia’s Romanian Bishop 2023 Easter Encyclical: We are called to respond to God’s love by following Christ

His Grace Bishop Mihail, who heads the Romanian Orthodox Diocese of Australia and New Zealand, noted in his Easter encyclical that “we are called to respond to God’s love by following His Son Jesus Christ. Just as Christ’s humility was complete, so too the discipleship we humans must go through must be to the end,…

Apr 13, 2023Aurelian Iftimiu

“Freedom is a journey upward and toward our neighbour”: Ecumenical Patriarch in Easter Encyclical

In his encyclical for Holy Pascha, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew notes that “all that we believe, all that we love, and all that we hope as Orthodox Christians is associated with Pascha, from which everything derives its vividness, through which everything is interpreted, and in which everything acquires its true meaning.” Patriarch Bartholomew highlights that “the…

Apr 30, 2021Aurelian Iftimiu