16 апреля - От Батюшки - 2026

CHRIST IS RISEN!

Dear brothers and sisters,

We continue to live in the joy of the Bright Resurrection of Christ. Pascha is not just a single day, but a whole season in which the Church proclaims again and again: Christ is risen — and death is defeated.

On Bright Friday, April 17, we will celebrate the icon of the Mother of God “The Life-Giving Spring.” On this day, we will again serve the Divine Liturgy in the Paschal manner, followed by the blessing of water.
 The service begins at 9:00 AM.

On this day, the Church honors the Mother of God as the Source of grace, through whom the Lord grants life and healing to the world. The blessing of water after the Divine Liturgy becomes a visible sign of that invisible “living water” of which Christ speaks — the grace that renews all creation and grants new life to each person.

This coming Sunday, the Second Sunday of Pascha — Antipascha (which means “in place of Pascha”) — the Church commemorates the Holy Apostle Thomas. Having passed through doubt, he confessed:
“My Lord and my God!”

Through this, the Church affirms for us the reality of Christ’s Resurrection — not as an idea, but as a living truth.
On this day, the breaking and distribution of the Artos will take place in the church.

The Artos is a special Paschal bread, blessed at the Paschal Liturgy and kept in the church throughout Bright Week as a sign of the presence of the Risen Christ among us. We take it home as a holy object. It should be dried and kept reverently in a clean place. It is consumed with prayer, usually on an empty stomach, with holy water — in times of difficulty, illness, or when one is unable to come to church, asking God for help and strength.

Beginning with this Sunday, we enter into the days of Radonitsa — the Paschal commemoration of the departed.

Immediately after the Divine Liturgy, we will go to the cemetery:

📍 Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens: 200 W. Copans Rd., Pompano Beach
Memorial service (Panikhida) — 1:00 PM

The very name “Radonitsa” comes from the word joy. We come to the cemetery not with hopeless sorrow, but with quiet and deep faith: Christ is risen — and therefore life does not end with death.

The Church teaches us that love for our departed does not cease with death. Prayer for them is the continuation of that love. We come to the place of their rest to remember them in prayer and to share with them the joy of the Resurrection of Christ.

For those who wish, after the general memorial service I will serve individual lity services at the graves of your loved ones.

On Tuesday, the day of Radonitsa itself, the Divine Liturgy and a memorial service will be served in the church, and we will again gather in prayer for our departed.

My dear ones, these days bring everything together: the joy of Pascha, the remembrance of the departed, faith in the Resurrection, and the living presence of God’s grace in our lives.

Let us make the effort to come to church, to pray together, and to lift up our prayers for our loved ones.

TRULY HE IS RISEN!