Among Orthodox Christians, Pascha (Easter) is the high point of the year. We fast (abstain) from meat, poultry, fish, dairy, wine, olive oil and eggs during the 7 weeks preceeding Pascha - Great Lent. The week just prior to Pascha is Holy Week, is considered "outside" of time, and not a part of Great Lent.
Throughout Great Lent, there are many special services during the week in addition to the usual Vigil and Divine Liturgy on Saturday evening and Sunday morning, respectively.
The main theme of Great Lent is "Repentance". Throughout the Fast, we concentrate on the examination of our lives, rooting out the Passions which lead to sin, reading Holy Scripture, reading the works of the fathers of the Church, and confession even more frequently. It would seem that this would be a bleak time - but for many, if not most, Orthodox Christians, Great Lent is eagerly awaited.
Fr. David Moser (ROCOR - Idaho) has this to say about the first service of Great Lent - Forgiveness Vespers on the Sunday of Cheesefare: "On the last Sunday before the beginning of lent, the vespers of that evening is called "forgiveness vespers" because it emphasizes the point that before we bring our own sacrifice to the temple, we must first be reconciled with our brother. Midway through the service the vestments are changed from light (gold usually) to dark (black or purple or a very dark red) and the melodies change from the normal chants to lenten melodies signifying the beginning of the lenten services. At the end of the service, the priest prostrates to all the people asking forgiveness. The people in turn prostrate and ask forgiveness for themselves. Then as each person comes to the front to venerate the icons they also prostrate to the priest and ask forgivness personally and he asks forgiveness personally of them and then a line forms from the priest so that each successive person goes down the line asking and giving forgiveness and takes up his place at the end of the line. In this manner everyone persent asks and gives forgiveness of each other person there. This is how we begin Great Lent."
Special and beautiful services of hymns (Canons and Akathists) are chanted. During the first week of Great Lent, the Great Canon of St. Andrew is served at Compline on 4 evenings. The strikingly beautiful Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts is served only during Great Lent on Wednesdays and Fridays. On Fridays, also, we serve the Akathist to the Theotokos. Throughout Great Lent, we strive to live more simply, to be grateful for what God has given us, to be aware that only from God do all things come. We become even more aware of our unworthiness to approach God, and of how great His Condescension was to us that He came among us, lived as one of us, died the death of the Cross for us, and rose again triumphantly on the third day. On Sundays the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great is served instead of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.
During the first several days of Holy Week we chant the Bridegroom Matins. The theme of this service is "Behold, the Bridegroom comes at midnight": are we ready, like the 10 wise virgins or are we foolishly unprepared?
On Holy Wednesday there is the service of Holy Unction. All are anointed as all are ailing from the sickness of sin. On Holy Thursday, we remember the Last Supper and the Betrayal in the beautiful Matins of the 12 Gospels.
In the morning of Great and Holy Friday, we serve the Royal Hours which remind us of Christ's Passion. In the afternoon we serve the Vespers with Procession of the Winding Sheet. In this service an Icon of Christ's Burial Cloth is brought out into the middle of the Church. Carrying the Burial Cloth, the Clergy process out of the Church and we circle the Church in procession, returning to the doors of the Church. Each in turn reverences the Burial Cloth of Christ, bows, and walks UNDER it into the Church. Then the Burial Cloth is placed on a low table, and surrounded by flowers. This represents the Tomb of Christ, in which He lay for 3 days. This is followed by Matins with Lamentations. In this service, we lament at His Tomb as did the disciples and the myrrhbearing women.
Holy Saturday is traditionally the day for Baptisms of new converts. We serve the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom with many more Scripture readings than usual in which we revisit the Prophecies of Christ and Christ's Passion. During the readings, the Clergy remove the Burial Shroud, but the Tomb remains. Later that evening, the entire Book of Acts is chanted aloud by the Readers and the Lay people.
At 11:30 Saturday night, we gather around the Tomb of Christ in the Church. Even infants and children are brought to this service. All is dark except for candles and the choir lights. The choir just chants the Midnight Office (the Canon Hymns of the Matins for Saturday, originally chanted on Friday night). This takes about 25 minutes. All lights and candles are extinguished. The Church is now very dark, in some it may even be totally pitch black.
Suddenly, a light flickers behind the Iconostas! The Bishop (if this is a Cathedral), Priest(s) and Deacon(s) begin to chant:
"Thy Resurrection, O Christ our Saviour, the angels in heaven sing!
Enable us on earth, to glorify Thee with purity of heart!"
They sing this 3 times. Then the Royal Doors open! The Priest and other Clergy come out bearing a beautiful hand Cross with 3 lit candles and fresh flowers on it! The choir takes up the chant:
"Thy Resurrection, O Christ our Saviour, the angels in heaven sing!
Enable us on earth, to glorify Thee with purity of heart!"
Again and again, this hymn is chanted as the New Light of Christ's Resurrection is passed from candle to candle until the entire Church is ablaze with the light!
"Thy Resurrection, O Christ our Saviour, the angels in heaven sing!
Enable us on earth, to glorify Thee with purity of heart!"
The Altar Servers carry torches, the
Processional Cross and fans, Clergy bear a large Icon of the Resurrection and the Paschal hand Cross. The choir and congregation follow them and we process around the Church (just after midnight) three times, singing again and again:
"Thy Resurrection, O Christ our Saviour, the angels in heaven sing!
Enable us on earth, to glorify Thee with purity of heart!"
We return to the doors of the Church and find them closed! The Priest lifts the Paschal hand Cross and cries out in a loud voice: "Christ is Risen!" The people respond, "Indeed, He is Risen!" This is repeated again and again in as many languages of the world as members of the Clergy and Congregation know (in our Church, always in English, Slavonic, and Greek). Then we sing the Paschal Troparion:
"Christ is Risen from the dead: trampling down death by death,
and upon those in the tombs bestowing Life!"
After chanting the entrance hymns, the doors of the Temple are opened. Behold! All the lights are on, and the Tomb is empty - and gone! In its place are banks of flowers!
"Christ is Risen from the dead: trampling down death by death,
and upon those in the tombs bestowing Life!"
Throughout the Matins which we now begin to sing, the Clergy will from time to time come out of the Royal Doors and cry, "Christ is Risen!" and we joyfully respond, "Indeed, He is Risen!" Throughout the Matins Service, at the end of each Ode of the Canon, we joyfully sing:
"Christ is Risen from the dead: trampling down death by death,
and upon those in the tombs bestowing Life!"
The Priest reads the Paschal
Homily of St. John Chrysostom, and we go right into the Paschal Divine Liturgy. Again and again, we sing,
"Christ is Risen from the dead: trampling down death by death,
and upon those in the tombs bestowing Life!"
as the Divine Liturgy is celebrated with all the doors of the Iconostas open and the curtain undrawn! Some of the most beautiful hymns of the year are sung at this service for the first time in a year:
"The Angel Cried to the Lady Full of Grace"
The Angel cried to the Lady full of grace
Rejoice! Rejoice! O pure Virgin!
Again, I say rejoice!
Thy son is risen from His three days in the tomb!
With Himself He has raised all the dead.
Rejoice, rejoice, O ye people!
Shine! Shine! Shine, O new Jerusalem!
The glory of the Lord has shown on thee.
Exult now, exult and be glad, O Sion.
Be radiant, O pure Theotokos,
In the Resurrection, the Resurrection of thy Son
"Let God Arise"
(The Paschal Canticle)
Let God arise and let His enemies be dispersed!
The Holy Pascha is revealed to us today.
The Pascha, new and Holy. The Pascha Mystical.
The Pascha all honorable.
The Pascha which is Christ the Redeemer.
The spotless Pascha, the great Pascha.
The Pascha of the Faithful.
The Pascha which has opened unto us the gates of Paradise.
The Pascha that sanctifies all the Faithful.
As smoke vanishes so let them vanish.
Come from that scene, O women, bearers of glad tidings,
And say to Sion: Receive from us the glad tidings of joy:
Of Christ's Resurrection.
Exult and be glad and rejoice O Jerusalem,
Seeing Christ the King Who comes forth from the tomb
Like a bridegroom in procession.
So the sinners will perish before the face of God
But let the righteous be glad.
The myrrhbearing women at the break of dawn
Drew near to the tomb of the Lifegiver.
There they found an angel sitting upon the stone.
He greeted them with these words:
"Why do you seek the living among the dead?
Why do you mourn the incorrupt amidst corruption?
Go: proclaim the glad tidings to his disciples."
This is the day which the Lord hath made;
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
The Pascha beautiful,
The Pascha of the Lord, the Pascha,
The Pascha all honorable has dawned for us.
The Pascha!
On which let us embrace one another with joy.
O Pascha! A ransom for sorrow.
For today shining forth from the tomb
As from the bridal chamber
Christ filled the women with joy saying,
"Proclaim the glad tidings to the Apostles."
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit
Both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen
It is the Day of Resurrection
Let us be glorious in splendor for the Feast.
Let us embrace one another.
Also, brethren, let us speak to those who hate us
And in the Resurrection let us forgive all thing.
Therefore let us cry:
Christ is risen from the dead; trampling down death by death,
and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!
Christ is risen from the dead; trampling down death by death,
and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!
Christ is risen from the dead; trampling down death by death,
and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!
"Having Fallen Asleep in the Flesh"
(Exapostalarion of Pascha)
Having fallen asleep in the flesh
As a mortal, O King and Lord,
On the third day Thou didst rise again,
Raising up Adam from corruption
And abolishing death.
O Pascha, Pascha of incorruption,
Salvation, salvation of the world.
At the end of the Divine Liturgy red eggs, a symbol of the Resurrection, are given out. Then there is the traditional Blessing of the Baskets. Each family has brought their Easter Dinner in a Basket. Traditionally there is meat, butter, eggs, cheese, olive oil and (perhaps) wine in the baskets. In some parishes, everyone sets out their food and all share in an Agape Meal right then. In our parish, we may have a little meat and cheese then, but our Agape will be at the Vespers that afternoon.
All go home and rest, then return to the Church in the afternoon for Vespers.
"Christ is Risen from the dead: trampling down death by death,
and upon those in the tombs bestowing Life!"
we sing again and again during this most joyful of Vespers. At the end of the Vespers, our parish holds its Agape Meal so the children will be able to enjoy it more. We serve the traditional Russian dishes: Kielbasa with horseradish sauce, Cheese Pascha, and Kuliche (an Easter bread). We also serve those traditional
Ethnic Orthodox foods of: fried chicken, deviled eggs, baked ham, and smoked turkey! In another parish Kim Chee is served along with traditional Russian, (former Soviet) Georgian, Roumanian and Serbian dishes.
Throughout Paschaltide (until Ascension) we greet each other (in person, on the phone, or on the NET) with "Christ is Risen!" and the reply is, "Indeed, He is Risen!" Throughout Paschaltide, each service begins and
ends with the chanting of:
"Christ is Risen from the dead: trampling down death by death,
and upon those in the tombs bestowing Life!"
The Paschal Exclamation in several languages may be viewed by clicking here:
The Paschal Troparion in several languages may be viewed by clicking here:
Back to Riggs
Consulting
Back to
Elizabeth Riggs' Resume
Back to
The Orthodox Church Page