Our Beloved Brothers in the Lord, the Blessed  Prelates, Spiritual sons, the elected priests; Honorable Deacons; sons and daughters of the Holy Church; and to the Assyrian Nation; and all Christian Brothers:

Prayers and Blessings receive:

We believe that Christ is Risen from the tomb; and that by His resurrection He has filled the world with His peace.  On this day we celebrate the joy and happiness of this resurrection!  Jesus Christ teaches us to give peace to one another, for He has sanctified us by the peace of His resurrection.  Great joy takes place within The Church by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our good and holy shepherd. 

New life without end is ours through Him.  Once again, great joy  is ours for our Lord has risen (from the dead) bringing a blessed life to the Children of The Church.  In a pure heart and in perfect love, let us receive Him, in His Body and Blood, which He has given to us under the species of bread and wine; in the Holy Qurbana.

Let us proclaim with the Angelic Hosts, saying:  “Glory be unto God in the highest” for in His love and grace, He sacrificed the Son, the Only Begotten of God for the redemption of mankind.  By the resurrection of Christ, the shining forth of the sun of righteousness, enlightening the minds and souls of those who strayed from the way of truth, leading them toward the country of light, filled with all peace, tranquility and hope for all of humankind.

The resurrection gives hope and redemption because of this truth, we say to you all, the sons and daughters of the Holy Church, the Assyrian Nation, to all Christian brothers, the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ be blessed unto you all!

The Apostle St Paul instructs us by writing:  “Endeavoring to preserve the harmony of the Spirit in the bond of peace, that you may become one body, and one spirit, even as you are called in the hope of your calling, for there is One Lord, One faith, and One baptism.”  (Eph 4:3-6)  Christ, through His death in His humanity has conquered sin upon The Cross, we too, are to die to live with Him.  Thus, when we are baptized, as Jesus Christ was entombed for three days; to rise on the third, His physical body was changed in a spiritual body to rise.  The soul who was baptized by The Priest, through immersion three times, in the Name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, is born the second time from the water through the power of the Holy Spirit; according to the commandment of our Lord, he will become a living member in the living body of Jesus Christ (i.e. the Church).  Therefore, every Christian must take care to keep his body pure from sin and sinning, in order to stay (spiritually) alive.  For, if one defiles his body by sin, he will be spiritually dead; exactly like that of a tree branch attached to the trunk is living producing fruit; however, when it is pruned from the trunk (the source of life), it will wither, dry-up and to be cast into the flames.   We who confess Christ and are believing Christians, from the day of our engrafting into the Body of Christ through Holy Baptism are alive and live by His grace.

We learn from this that our faith is built upon Jesus Christ, for He is the rock and foundation of our Holy Christian Faith.  He is the purpose of our salvation; Christ is the light upon our path.  He is the One who will guide us toward that goal of eternal life;  He is the door into which we will enter and arrive at the eternal home in the Kingdom of our worshipful God.

Beloved, our goal is Jesus Christ; to be fully united to Him, for He is alive and He will never die again, nor will death have power over Him.  We who live will physically die, in order to rise up again in a spiritual body to enter into the Kingdom of God.  Why?  “flesh and blood does not enter into the Kingdom of God,” As previously noted, Christ Jesus must be the goal of all the faithful, for He is our Lord and Savior, the Redeemer, the Good Shepherd who watches over His flock.

We the Prelates and Priests, are active workers in the Holy Vineyard of Jesus Christ, we are ambassadors, preachers, and proclaimers of The Word; we are responsible to bring the living Holy Word of our Lord unto you all, so that you’ll be led toward the light in order to be enabled to find the right path of truth which will direct you towards the door of The Kingdom of Heaven.

Now when we speak of The Church, we speak about the Great Redemptive Community of people; not of individual alone.  We who have received Holy Baptism are members of that great redemptive community of believer, being attached to that one body, whose head and Lord is Jesus Christ, Himself a sacrifice for the redemption of This Church.  Therefore, we stress this, it is important to love the Head of our Church by keeping His commandments, thus revealing our love unto Him.  Our Lord tells us:  “I am the vine you are the branches, he who remains with me, and I with him, will bear abundant fruit, for without me you can do nothing; unless a man remain with me, he will be cast outside like a branch which has withered, which is gathered and cast into the fire to be burned.  If you remain with me and my words remain with you, whatever you shall ask shall be done for  you.”  (John 15:5-7).

Without Him we cannot do good deeds; therefore, our deeds are to be crafted for Him, like the deeds of our Lord.  Jesus tells us:  “A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another, just as I have loved you., that you also love one another, by this everyman shall know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  (John 13:34-35)

We are filled with joy by Jesus because of the Resurrection.  And, by His redemption, He has made us rich in His gifts, filling our hearts with hope and confidence, making humankind renewed by this glorious resurrection.  Let us not forget His love and His good deeds toward us, and by His supreme sacrifice for mankind’s redemption; thereby, requiring us to become faithfully obedient unto Him, keeping His holy commandments, in order for us to be considered true children of His household; and as proclaimers of His words to others (in order that they, too), will come near to Christ so they will not follow the dark path of the evil one.

Jesus taught His Disciples, “Go into all the world and preach my Gospel to the whole creation, he who believes and is baptized shall be saved, and he who does not believe will be condemned.”  (Mark 16:15-16)  Preaching and proclaiming The Word, is a commandment of our Lord to us as priests and preachers.  Even those who have been baptized by a priest receive the spiritual gift, and are marked Christians.  This Christian is to be diligent in keeping his baptism pure in this temporal life, so that the soul will rest in Paradise.  When in the resurrection he may inherit a dwelling place in The Heavenly Kingdom; however, if a man goes far from Christ he falls into the trap of the evil one. 

God has created man free, and he shows him the bright and enlightened path of Christ, leading toward life eternal; and, instructs him not to follow the path of darkness, which will end in death.  Man is free!  He can choose for himself one of these two paths.  Satan is weak (he has no power equal to God) so he will use many deceiving methods to ensnare humankind.  The human soul who will follow the path of darkness is weak and deceitful.  However, the soul who will follow the Path of Christ, is humble, merciful, pleasing, and is armed with fasting and prayers, and a good behavior.  He will not fall into the trap of the wicked one. 

It is necessary, therefore, that within each parish of The Church, the parish priest, together with the parish committee, arrange classes of catechism for the sons and daughters of the parish.  Also, classes are to be established for teaching the language for the youth and the Sunday School catechumens and the choir of The Parish.  These are important activities, together with the priest and committee to be working these things out, so that the apostolic instruction will be in the church for our posterity.

St Paul instructs us by writing:  “faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of God.”  (Rom 10:17)  Do not be bored in hearing the Word of God, because, The Word will sustain you, and keep you from the evil one, for Jesus says to His Disciples:  “do you not believe I am with my Father, and my Father with me, the words I speak I do not speak of myself, but my Father who abides with me, he does these works” (John 14:10)  From the pages of the Holy Gospel, we learn that the words of Jesus are from God, as a living seed, which is planted into the rich soil yields an abundant harvest!  The soil of this field is blessed by God; but the field which brings forth thorns and thistles is cursed. 

We hope that all the sons and daughters of our Holy Church and of the Assyrian Nation will be diligent in becoming the rich field, producing a rich harvest for the Lord of the field; the Lord Jesus Christ.  So that they may obtain the love, blessings, and honor from God the Father, for this purpose we are called into The Church of Christ, to work together as members of the One Body.  St Paul writes:  “So, then we, being many are one body in Christ, and everyone members of another.”  (Rom 12:5)  Thus, The Church is described like unto “a body,” and it has many members, and each member has its own duty functioning in the body, as an example, “the eye,” is to see; and “the ear,” is to hear.  An eye cannot say to the ear “you are NOT needed,” neither, can an ear say to the eye, nor to a hand to a leg, “you are not needed!”  And after the same manner within The Church all the members are needed, for each of them, in accordance with the gifts and capabilities, must work for The Church in faith, love, and obedience to the Lord of the Church.

No member of The Church, shall think or say, “I am coming to The Church, working in The Church, and paying my tithe for the sake of so and so (or a particular individual).”   Each member comes to The Church for the sake of his own faith and redemption.  Our Lord Jesus calls everyone to come to The Church and to function as a viable member of The Church.

Each member of The Church must build his faith upon Jesus Christ, for He is the rock and foundation of The Church, then edifice of his faith will be strong and will not fall, but if he builds the edifice of your faith upon individuals, your faith will be reduced to that of a personal faith, and not that of a Christian faith.  Because persons are mortal, the faith when it is built upon persons shall die with them; however, since Christ is living forever, He is our Lord and God, our King and Savior, and the Redeemer from sin; this faith lives forever.

Our beloved children of The Church, try to plant The Word of God in the soul of your hearts to sprout, rooting and producing good fruit.  Purify your heart from sin; be a cleansed temple, for you are the temples of God.  Beloved children of The Church and of the Assyrian Nation, wherever you may dwell, do not forget that you are sons and daughters of the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East   Be faithful members, and close to The Church; be active in the Church; be diligent, in the maintaining of your faith, liturgy, Sacraments, the Canons of The Church without change.

Beloved sons and daughters of the Holy Church and of the Assyrian Nation, we beseech you to be good and faithful citizens within the Nation wherein you dwell, always be diligent to be obedient to the laws of the land, so that you all may be loved and respected; for this is your home.  With the neighbors who surround you, be in love and respect, regardless of their religion or national origin.  Respect them so that you will be respected in turn.  Neighbor needs the help of his neighbor in the time of need; Jesus said:  “. . . love your neighbor as yourself.”  (Luke 10:27)

The succession of our Holy Father, we believe as one nation, history unites us with our Assyrian forefathers in Mesopotamia, because, this is 2000 years that our forefathers have kept the name, the language, literature of our Assyrian Nation, together with our Christian faith.  Therefore, as Assyrians, we should have zeal and pride in our history and literature, we have gifts from God, given to us, our Christian faith of the Church of the East, and of our Assyrian nationality, concluding, once again, we say to you all The Feast of our The Holy Resurrection be blessed unto you, and we pray God the Father to keep you in peace and tranquility, hoping that you will celebrate this Holy Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ in peace and happiness, wherever you may live; you all, O sons and daughters of The Holy Church and of the Assyrian Nation, together with all our Christian brethren throughout the world. 

The Grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, forever:  Amen