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EASTER
MESSAGE OF HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS CROWN
PRINCE ALEXANDER II Crucified
and humiliated, Christ sent a word
from the cross: Forgive them father,
they do not know what they are
doing! The crucified God and man
asks for forgiveness for those who
are killing him, because he himself
has already forgiven them. It
is, for us also, the time for
forgiveness! We have been in wars
enough and we have destroyed each
other enough by words and deeds, by
thought and bad will; we have been
destroying ourselves by causing pain
to others. To forgive is godlike,
and because it is so, it is a way to
get closer to the law of our
creation, the law which we tend to
escape from due to our endless
self-importance and shallowness. The
only thing we do not know is where
to escape to, and what the use of
this escape is. However, to forgive
does not mean to forget, to love thy
neighbors does not mean to hate
yourself, to take care of the
well-being of all does not mean to
neglect your own, to pray for the
salvation of others does not mean to
lose the your own soul! To confess
your sins does not mean to become
blind to the sins of others, for the
sins against yourself, to
underestimate the innocent victims
because they are of our own, to make
a mockery of death in order to
ingratiate ourselves with our
executioners. We
have new temptations ahead of us,
difficult decisions, and painful
injustices. The consequences of our
own imprudence and other’s evil
and indifference await us. We can
not run away from that, but we must
not add insanity to the burden we
have to carry, the sin of injustice
and the crime of negligence towards
our own people. It seems like we
have seen enough of that, but we are
afraid that the potential for the
evil deeds has not been tired out.
In times like these there are
interests that are above personal
ones and the ones of the political
parties; there are much more
important things than the questions
about who will run the country;
there is a certain responsibility
not only for the prosperity but also
for the survival of the people and
the state. The people and the state
are not only legal and
lexicographical notions; they are
humans, destinies, the past, the
present and the future that are
compressed into the walnut shell of
this second in eternity. In order to
survive, we must forgive each other.
In order to have a future, we must
stop with destruction of the
present. In order to know which path
will take us to the better future,
we have to know how we got where we
are. There is no doubt, and there
must be no doubt, about that. There
must be no doubt either, about the
fact that we achieved a lot of
things that not too long ago seemed
unachievable; we penetrated walls
that seemed to be impenetrable, and
created windows towards the light,
the windows that could easily be
closed again by us. Crucified
and sacrificed, Christ resurrected
on the third day, just as it is
written. That day, and that miracle
is celebrated by all Christians of
all confessions. The Resurrection,
hope and belief that it is our
destiny assigned to us from heaven,
is the origin of the faith and
confidence with which we face life
and its temptations. That is the
origin from which we extract our
expectations of peace, love and
eternal life. In the days when we
celebrate the victory of life over
death, the victory of eternity over
triviality and temporality, we wish
to all Serbian Orthodox, all
Orthodox Christians, all that pray
to God and stick to His laws, all
the people of good will, very happy
holidays and we greet them with the
message of hope and faith, Christ
is risen! Indeed,
he is risen! IN
TRUTH HE IS RISEN! ALEXANDER
II Easter 2005
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