from the National Council of Churches in Australia
Easter 2025 Messages
from Australia's National Church Leaders
'He is Risen'
The Easter cry 'He is Risen' is one that is shared by all Christians. It is a chorus of hope and triumph and the most distinctive claim that we make as Christian communities and so defines us. We celebrate that the last word in the Easter story is not one of violence, injustice and death. It is one of life and joy.
We affirm together that God's love is stronger than death, that God does not forsake or abandon us, and that Jesus the Risen Lord is with us. This Easter affirmation gives us hope in suffering and disaster, solidarity in turmoil and uncertainty and care in situations of distress and conflict.
Many are experiencing the personal impact of disaster, war, uncertainty and upheaval. The reasons for the upheaval vary from situation to situation and are outside of the direct control of the individuals who suffer. Hope does not take away the source of the struggle or pain, however it does point to the good news of Jesus who is with us and is close.
It is our common prayer that, no matter the circumstances we may be in, or the struggle we may face that we find the encouraging and loving presence of the risen Jesus.
Christ is our hope.
Rev John Gilmore, President
National Council of Churches in Australia
(Note: This year, the Western, Orthodox and Oriental Churches will all celebrate Easter on Sunday 20 April 2025.)
The 14 messages follow.
Anglican Church of Australia
I think it's fair to say that over the past couple of months, the world has felt even more chaotic than usual. The global economy is being quickly destabilised, and stock markets are reacting dramatically to the instability. We were already anxious, but now we are even more so.
Add an election in early May with politicians now flinging themselves from one corner of the country to another, haphazardly promising the world, to ongoing intractable and complex conflicts in many places, and the world feels like it's just holding on.
Thankfully, Easter has nearly arrived.
Easter, that is, Good Friday and Easter Day, bring us not only important messages, but also important facts that impact our daily lives and offer an alternative vision of life to that which is mostly evident in our community.
On Good Friday, we see both love and reconciliation. Jesus's offering of his life on the cross demonstrates a rare love and self-giving. This is what God is like—a God who gives rather than takes. Jesus's death on the cross also accomplishes something. It brings reconciliation between God and humanity, the foundation for all other reconciliation. Greatness isn't found in self-absorption, self-interest or power. Greatness is found in giving.
On Easter Day, we celebrate again Jesus' resurrection. His resurrection is not some supernatural magic trick, great for a display but that's about all. The resurrection is the defeat of death and the opening of a new reality for the world. The future now is not death and destruction but life and new creation. Jesus' resurrection has changed the trajectory of the history of the world. This reality offers hope. Not hope in the future but hope today from the future.
Our world desperately needs hope. But we also need a reason to have different attitudes and to live in a loving, generous, forgiving, gracious, and peace-filled way today.
The reason is what happened at Easter: the self-offering of Jesus, through which peace with God is possible, and the resurrection of Jesus, to prove that reconciliation is real and to begin the invasion of darkness by light and life.
The celebration of Easter comes every year. This year it is particularly important. We have the opportunity to make the most of it. May we do just that.
The Most Reverend Geoffrey Smith, Archbishop of Adelaide
Primate, Anglican Church of Australia
Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese
Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!
As we celebrate the Feast of Feasts, the Resurrection of our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ, we rejoice, and our hearts are filled with joy. The Resurrection of Christ signifies victory over death, over sin, and over hostility. It marks the end of the old ways and the beginning of a new life.
This year, our celebration of Pascha comes in challenging times, as the entire world grapples with suffering and division. Our generous Lord welcomes everyone, the first and the last, as St. John Chrysostom reminds us, and invites each of us to join in.
Answering this Paschal call, let us embrace one another with love. Our Pascha is a spiritual liberation, a shift from being trapped by the material world to embracing the eternal values of the Kingdom of the Risen Christ, where we learn to collaborate with God, the Source of true and life-giving Love.
Our Pascha means partaking in the saving Sacrifice of Christ. In His humility, the Son of God ascended the Cross, giving Himself as a sacrifice, so that we might eagerly follow Him on our own journey of sacrifice and accept His gift of eternal Life, the gift of the Resurrection.
We hope that the light of the Resurrection will dispel any lingering shadows in our hearts and fill them with the life-giving rays of God's Love and Mercy.
His Eminence Metropolitan Basilios, Archbishop
Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines
Catholic Church in Australia
As we celebrate the Easter triumph of love over hatred and of life over death this year, we do so conscious that in so many places around the world the reality is very different. Violence, vengeance and the trampling of people's most basic rights bring untold suffering and arouse deep fears about the future for all of us.
The Risen Lord's Easter promise of peace can seem more like an impossible dream than a source of confident trust. Can love really triumph over hatred? Can life really triumph over death?
The peace the Lord promises is a gift and also a task. The gift is freely offered, but only those with open hearts are able to receive it. Only those with courage, grounded in faith in the Lord and in the power of his Spirit, are able to pursue it. What we are not able to do alone, we can do if we remain in communion with the Lord. God once promised through the prophet Ezekiel, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you" (Ezekiel 36:26). May this be our Easter prayer this year: may we thus become the peacemakers Jesus calls blessed.
Yours sincerely in Christ,
Archbishop Tim Costelloe SDB, Archbishop of Perth,
