Around 1930, Bukharin, the Communist leader, travelled from Moscow to Kiev. His mission was to address a huge crowd. The theme of his speech: atheism. For over an hour he aimed his heavy artillery at Christianity, using every argument to put down the Gospel. He finished his address with hope that any faith in God left in the audience was smashed to pieces.
Then Bukharin asked: “Are they any questions?”
A solitary man stood up and asked permission to speak. He walked up to the platform and got close to the Communist leader. The audience was silent and held their breath as this unknown man looked from one side of the crowd to the other.
Finally he shouted the ancient Orthodox greeting: “CHRIST IS RISEN!”.
The vast assembly arose as one man and like a mighty avalanche responded with all their hearts: ” HE IS RISEN INDEED!”.
My friend, the troubles in our lives and the wars in our world will never be able to drown Christ’s victory over death. He is risen indeed!
Timothée and Yukki Paton