Christ is risen, He is risen indeed – Watani Newspaper

Today, our Coptic Orthodox Church, as well as some other eastern churches, celebrates the Holy Easter, I’d like to felicitate everyone for the resurrection of Lord Christ, praying for God to bless Egypt with bounties and to bestow safety and peace upon it.

“This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalms 118: 24). The Resurrection is the day that God prepared from eternity for the redemption of fallen humanity, which had been sentenced to eternal death. God did not create humans for their annihilation! Rather, for man to enjoy the abundance of His love and the pleasure of His fellowship, about which He said: “And my delight was with the sons of men” (Proverbs 8:31), and He granted him eternal life and lasting happiness. However, man, by breaking God’s commandment, brought death into the world: “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned, as though through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all people, since all sinned.” (Romans 5:12). In the face of death came God’s promise to save humanity and redeem it from destruction: “…And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” (Genesis 3:15). Thus, humanity remained waiting for the Savior, who will crush Satan and death, and reconcile the earthly with the heavenly; we find the prophets praying for the speedy fulfillment of salvation: “Oh,that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When the Lord brings back the captivity of His people, Let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.” (Psalm 14:7), and Prophet Isaiah says: “Oh, that You would ^[a]rend the heavens! That You would come down!” (Isaiah 64:1).

In the fullness of time, the Son, the Word, became incarnate and came among us on earth, went about doing good and teaching every day, and finally offering Himself as a sacrifice for our sins, we human beings: “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15: 3, 4), then He rose by the power of His divinity, because He is life and death cannot hold Him, and He declared this when saying: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” (John 11:25). Through His resurrection, He granted life to those who departed in the hope of God’s promises of salvation, as He descended into the Hades, preached salvation to the souls in prison, brought them out to paradise, and granted the hope of eternal life to everyone who believes in him and in his work of salvation. Thus, the “Resurrection of Lord Christ” became a guarantee of the resurrection of all of us: “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:20-22).

Happy feast to all of you: Christ is risen, He is risen indeed

The General Bishop

Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center