Thursday, April 1, 2021

Holy Thursday Letter of the Archfather to Clergy and Nobles

 FIRENZE-NUOVA ROMA 1 April 2021 (NRom)

The following is the text of the annual Holy Thursday letter of His Holiness and Eminence the Archfather to the clergy and nobles. 


TO MY VENERABLE BRETHREN THE BISHOPS, TO THE PRIESTS AND REGULAR CLERGY, AND TO THE SERENE PRINCES, ILLUSTRIOUS NOBLES, AND HONOURABLE KNIGHTS, GREETINGS ON THIS HOLY THURSDAY AS WE BEGAN THE TRANSITION FROM LENT TO THE GLORIOUS CELEBRATION OF EASTER.

Each of you has a special purpose. This year our Lenten journey and coming Easter season is marred by the very same global humanitarian crisis that we experienced not just during Lent and Easter last year, but during the majority of the year. Yet it cannot diminish the light of Christ or the joy of the Resurrection! Crises and humanitarian concerns are certainly nothing new in history, and indeed they are common in most of the world on a regular basis. We as leaders in the worldwide Christendom must, therefore, treat this merely as an event to which we must respond. As so many leaders of the world equivocated and played political games at the expense of the people, as governments developed tunnel vision and sparked a humanitarian crisis unparalleled in recent memory, as societies forgot their proud heritage and instead fell apart, and as people turned on each other in the most vicious ways, you as a group displayed the very traits exemplary behaviour, and honourable service that We would expect from devout Christian leaders. The Roman State in antiquity, the foundation of modern society, was built on rationality, community, courage, and virtue. It was a society that built to last – so much so that even after the Empire collapsed, its influences and even its buildings remain. We are saddened that modern society has all but abandoned its legacy, but We are encouraged that it continues to live on in each of you.

It was largely the Roman roads and eventually the Empire itself that allowed the Christian faith to spread. In the chaos after the collapse of the Roman Empire, it was the Christian faith that sustained the populations and eventually allowed a rebirth of civilisation and more robust societal structure. By setting the example of Christian service, each of you not only helps to bring order out of chaos, but perpetuate the very ideals that are required for a rebirth of society in the present period.

On this day so many years ago, our Lord established the Holy Eucharist, ordaining the Apostles priests. This day we do indeed celebrate the establishment of the Christian priesthood, for it is truly from the altar of God that all authentic service must flow. The justice of God must not be allowed to be abandoned in favour of mere worldly expediency. Yet, that happens all too often in the world. Therefore, We charge each of you this coming Easter season to continue in your exemplary service, modeling the ideals of our Christian civilisation that the light of Christ may be seen in each of you and reflected to others.

Rutherfordus Ap. I 
Servant of the Servants of Christ