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ÎPS Andrei Andreicut, Metropolitan of Cluj, appealed for peace in the Easter Pastoral.
ÎPS Andrei, Metropolitan of Cluj / Photo: Metropolitan of Cluj, Maramureș and Sălaj
His Holiness Andrei, Metropolitan of Cluj, addressed a call for peace in the Easter Pastoral that was read.
His Holiness Andrei, Archbishop of Vad, Feleac and Cluj and Metropolitan of Cluj, Maramureș and Sălaj, sent the faithful a message of hope, peace and love towards their fellow men, in the pastoral letter at the Resurrection of the Lord.
Here is the text of the pastoral letter:
Beloved believers,
The Lord Jesus Christ is absolute love. Out of love for us He was sacrificed on the cross. He emphasizes this in the Gospel according to John: “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3, 16). True love is sacrificial.
He reveals this truth to us in the nocturnal discussion he had with the old Nicodemus, who was concerned about his salvation. From the sacrifice of His cross spring the holy Mysteries. The Lord Jesus says to Nicodemus:as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3, 14-15).
We know that when the Israelites came out of Egypt, at some point they were attacked by poisonous snakes, and God commanded Moses to make a brass snake and put it on a pole. The snake placed by the curmezius on the pillar prefigured the holy cross. We read in the book Numbers that “Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole; and when a snake bit a man, he looked at the brass snake and lived” (Numbers 21, 9).
Out of His great love, on the wood of the cross, Christ sacrificed Himself for us, sinners. Saint John tells us that when the Lord Jesus died on the cross, “one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out” (John 19, 34). The water of holy Baptism and the blood of holy Communion, the holy cross being the source of the mysteries. Nicodemus understood that his rebirth is done through the Sacrament of Baptism and spiritual growth through Holy Communion.
When we prepare for the Liturgy, at Proscomidie we read the troparion: “Redeem us from the curse of the Law with Your precious blood. Being crucified on the cross and pierced with a spear, you gave birth to immortality for people, our Savior, glory to you”. And in the prayer of the Holy Sacrifice, we say: “descending through the cross into hell, in order to fulfill all His own, He untied the pains of death. And, rising on the third day and making a way for every body to the resurrection from the dead, he became the beginning of those who are asleep”
Out of His great love, Christ sacrificed Himself for us on the cross. That is why, in liturgical language, we say: “Rejoice, most venerable cross of Christ, for you saved the world by raising the nailed Jesus upon you. Rejoice, glorified tree, because you held the fruit of life that saved us from the death of sin”
The Lord Jesus Christ through His sacrificial love redeemed us from sin and death. Saint Paul rightly tells us that “as through the error of one came condemnation for all men, so also through the correction brought by the One came, for all men, the correction that gives life” (ROMANS 5, 18).
Dear brothers and sisters,
The Savior also teaches us to love God and to love our fellow man. He says in the Gospel according to John: “This is My commandment: Love one another as I have loved you” (John 15, 12). So, the measure of love is sacrifice. Subterfuge does not stand before God. The evangelist John also says in his first epistle: “If anyone says: I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar! Because he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, God whom he has not seen, cannot love him. And we have this commandment from Him: He who loves God must also love his brother” (1 John 4, 20-21).
The poor fallen man is behaving aberrantly. Saint Maximus the Confessor rightly says: “Thus the one nature was cut into innumerable particles, and we, who are of the same nature, eat one another like reptiles and beasts. For by seeking pleasure for the sake of carnal love to ourselves, and endeavoring to flee from pain for the same reason, we invent unimaginable sources of corrupting passions.”
Theoretical declarations of love have no value, because true love is sacrificial. It is materialized in facts. Saint Paul tells us:long-suffering love; love is kind, love does not brag, it does not boast, it does not boast. Love does not act unseemly, it does not seek its own, it does not get angry, it does not think evil. He does not rejoice in injustice, but rejoices in the truth. He suffers all, believes all, hopes all, endures all. Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13, 4-8). Love is selfless and sacrificial.
Saint Diadochus of Photica says that when man “he begins to feel abundantly the love of God, he also begins to love his neighbor with the feeling of the spirit. And this is the love that all the Holy Scriptures speak of. For friendship after the flesh is very easily dissolved when a slight cause is found. Because it was not connected with the feeling of the spirit. But the soul that is under the sway of God, even if it happens to cause some trouble, still the bond of love is not dissolved from itself”
We are told a pious story that a father had two sons. When he was about to pass into eternity, he divided their land into equal parts. The elder brother was married, had children, had a good wife and a household. The younger brother was not married.
Both brothers sowed wheat on the ground. The harvest came, they reaped the wheat and made it into chaff. What did the eldest brother think? I am a man at home, I have a wife and children, and I lack nothing. My brother is still not married, he needs to talk. I will go at midnight to take my sheaves and put them on his hold.
What did the little one think? I am single and unencumbered. My brother has a family to support and hardships. At midnight I will go and take the small sheaves and pass them to his hold.
At midnight they met in the hut between the holds with the sheaf of wheat in their arms. Realizing what had happened, they hugged each other and began to cry. True love is, as it turns out, sacrificial.
Christian justices,
The supreme model of sacrificial love is the Lord Jesus Christ. He also teaches us: “This is My commandment: Love one another as I have loved you.” that is, until the sacrifice (John 15, 12). Love lays down its life for its fellow man: “Greater love than this no one has, that his soul lays it down for his friends” (John 15, 13).
In the short story “Holy Week”, Ion Agârbiceanu introduces us to an enthusiastic and very demanding young priest, who was totally dissatisfied with the spiritual progress of his believers. He had no more patience with them. On the night of Passion Thursday he has a nightmare. We extract from his inner dialogue the following cramp: “I hate people because even after the third release they didn’t get better. But do I have this right? Do I forgive their sins with my power? Is it not Christ who forgives them? And if He sees fit to forgive them seventy times seven, am I not a bad priest if I do not obey His will? And what does he forgive us for? Because he loves people.” Love made Him sacrifice Himself for them.
Looking around us, we see that in a secularizing world, sacrificial love is being ignored. Otherwise, how would one explain the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East? Sacrificial love should embrace all man, all peoples, all mankind, and all the world. It is true that these words are too big and we are too small to implement them. But great is God, to whom we pray for peace.
Christ, whose Resurrection we celebrate, is the Lord of Peace. On the day of His Resurrection, appearing among His disciples, “he said to them: Peace to you!” (John 20, 19). He is the Lord of peace and sacrificial love. “The peace of Christ is the peace between us and God, it is the peace of the soul penetrated by the lights of grace, it is the peace between people who are brothers to each other, it is the peace between peoples who are part of the great human family, it is the peace of the whole creature, the cosmic peace. This peace is a gift from God, but in order to maintain, develop and reach full victory, it requires the engagement of all human forces in the action for peace, the constant collaboration with Jesus Christ”
The chant at the end of the Resurrection Service is unparalleled: “Resurrection Day! And let us lighten up with the celebration, and embrace each other. Let’s say: to the brothers and those who hate us; to forgive all for the Resurrection. And so let us cry: Christ has risen from the dead, treading death upon death, and giving life to those in the graves”[
Hristos Cel Înviat din morți să vă umple de dragoste jertfelnică și sărbătorile Paștilor să vă fie pline de bucurie.
Hristos a înviat!
† ANDREI
Arhiepiscopul Vadului, Feleacului şi Clujului
şi Mitropolitul Clujului, Maramureşului şi Sălajului
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