“Come, receive the Light from the unwaning Light, and glorify Christ, Who is risen from the dead!”
In the brilliance of this night—brighter than any day—when all creation falls silent before the glory of the invincible Light, the Sacred Monastery of Bigorski was once again illumined by the uncreated beauty of Christ’s Resurrection. At the very moment when the triumphant cry rang out: “Christ is Risen!” the entire monastic complex was transfigured into a radiant Paschal light—an otherworldly illumination that enlightens hearts and transforms souls.
As in every year, so also this time the Holy Fire arrived from the Holy Land—a living testimony to the unceasing miracle of the Resurrection, the flame of hope that never fades. The faithful received it with trembling, with tears, with a love burning more fiercely than any earthly fire. An immense multitude gathered at the ancient Sanctuary—so great that both the temple and the courtyard overflowed with prayerful hearts longing to taste of the eternal Pascha.
The radiant celebration was led by our beloved Elder, His Grace Bishop Partenij of Antania, who stood with a Paschal joy that overflowed, with a love that embraced every heart, with a grace-filled stillness between the words, and a thunderous witness to the victory that eternity itself sings. Around him, the entire brotherhood and sisterhood, and a sea of faithful—one soul, one heart, one Body of Christ—joined together in a solemn Resurrectional symphony.
“Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!”
The triumphant troparion resounded between heaven and earth. This is no ordinary day. This is no mere remembrance. This is the reality that shakes the very foundations of death and time. Christ is risen—and nothing is the same. Hades has been stripped of its captives. Fear is shattered. Death is conquered. The liberty of the children of God now shines in the darkness.
On this mystical night of the Day without evening, beneath the mountain’s fresh silence, the hymn of life echoed like angelic song. Hearts, crucified by the struggles of daily life, descended into the tomb of humility and there encountered the radiant Pascha—Christ, Who rises, Who liberates, Who makes all things new.
As He Himself declares: “Behold, I make all things new.”
May the Paschal joy of this unending Day of the Lord’s Resurrection ever shimmer within our souls.
May it be the dawn of a new life, a victorious life—a life rooted in Love, which neither time nor death could overcome.
CHRIST IS RISEN!
TRULY HE IS RISEN!
