Utrenia Învierii la Catedrala „Schimbarea la Față” din Cluj (prima parte)

The song of victory "Christ is Risen" also resounded in the Greek Catholic Cathedral of Cluj, on the evening of April 11, 2026, at the Matins of the Resurrection of the Lord - a new beginning of Life in light and renewal of all. His Holiness Cristian, Auxiliary Bishop of Alba Iulia and Făgăraș, representative of His Beatitude Claudiu, Major Archbishop of the Romanian Church United with Rome and Pastor of the Diocese of Cluj-Gherla, offered the light of the Resurrection of the Lord to everyone. Dozens of priests of the Diocese of Cluj-Gherla prayed, in communion of faith, among them, the vicar general, the vicar judicial, the rector of the diocesan seminary, priests who serve in the cathedral, other priests from Cluj, and students of the diocesan theological seminary "St. John the Evangelist". After the initial moments of the celebration, in the cathedral plunged into darkness, as humanity once was under the burden of ancestral sin, a small light first emerged from the altar, at the words of the Hierarch: "Come and receive light!" And the light then spread rapidly, from hand to hand, from candle to candle, while the entire crowd, hundreds of believers, carrying the light they received in their hands and on their faces, came out in front of the church, into the wide world still engulfed in darkness. In the darkness outside - but under the blessing of the Blessed Bishop Martyr Iuliu Hossu, whose statue stands guard near the cathedral where he also served -, the first part of Matins was celebrated by the Hierarch, priests, deacons and seminary students. During this time, the faithful with lighted candles in their hands became, each one, a herald of the Resurrection, like the myrrh-bearing women after they had found the empty tomb. Here, under the night sky, for the first time after the long period of Lent, the song of victory rose from hundreds of souls with joy: "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and to those in the tombs granting life." The ritual of opening the gates followed - a moment that recalls the Lord's descent into hell, after the Resurrection, to free those who lay imprisoned there - after which, once again, they entered the cathedral for the second part of the Resurrection Matins, in prayer and songs of joy for the "Sunrise without sunset", for the coming of the endless day of the radiance of the "Sun of righteousness" - the Risen Christ.