Τη Αγία και Μεγάλη Κυριακή του Πάσχα
The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the center of the Christian
faith. St. Paul says that if Christ is not raised from the dead, then our
preaching and faith are in vain (I Cor. 15:14). Indeed, without the resurrection
there would be no Christian preaching or faith. The disciples of Christ would
have remained the broken and hopeless band which the Gospel of John describes as
being in hiding behind locked doors for fear of the Jews. They went nowhere and
preached nothing until they met the risen Christ, the doors being shut (John 20:
19). Then they touched the wounds of the nails and the spear; they ate and drank
with Him. The resurrection became the basis of everything they said and did
(Acts 2-4): ". . . for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have"
(Luke 24:39).
The resurrection reveals Jesus of Nazareth as not only the expected Messiah of
Israel, but as the King and Lord of a new Jerusalem: a new heaven and a new
earth.
Then I asw a new heaven and a new earth. . . the holy city, new Jerusalem. And I
heard a great voice from the throne saying "Behold, the dwelling place of God is
with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. . . He will
wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall
there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have
passed away (Rev. 21:1-4).
In His death and resurrection, Christ defeats the last enemy, death, and thereby
fulfills the mandate of His Father to subject all things under His feet (I Cor.
15:24-26).
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and
might and honor and glory and blessing (Rev. 5: 12)
THE FEAST OF FEASTS
The Christian faith is celebrated in the liturgy of the Church. True celebration
is always a living participation. It is not a mere attendance at services. It is
communion in the power of the event being celebrated. It is God's free gift of
joy given to spiritual men as a reward for their self-denial. It is the
fulfillment of spiritual and physical effort and preparation. The resurrection
of Christ, being the center of the Christian faith, is the basis of the Church's
liturgical life and the true model for all celebration. This is the chosen and
holy day, first of sabbaths, king and lord of days, the feast of feasts, holy
day of holy days. On this day we bless Christ forevermore (Irmos 8, Paschal
Canon).
PREPARATION
Twelve weeks of preparation precede the "feast of feasts." A long journey which
includes five prelenten Sundays, six weeks of Great Lent and finally Holy Week
is made. The journey moves from the self-willed exile of the prodigal son to the
grace-filled entrance into the new Jerusalem, coming down as a bride beautifully
adorned for her husband (Rev. 21:2) Repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation,
prayer, fasting, almsgiving, and study are the means by which this long journey
is made.
Focusing on the veneration of the Cross at its midpoint, the lenten voyage
itself reveals that the joy of the resurrection is achieved only through the
Cross. "Through the cross joy has come into all the world," we sing in one
paschal hymn. And in the paschal troparion, we repeat again and again that
Christ has trampled down death - by death! St. Paul writes that the name of
Jesus is exalted above every name because He first emptied Himself, taking on
the lowly form of a servant and being obedient even to death on the Cross (Phil.
2:5-11). The road to the celebration of the resurrection is the self-emptying
crucifixion of Lent. Pascha is the passover from death to life.
Yesterday I was buried with Thee, 0 Christ. Today I arise with Thee in Thy
resurrection. Yesterday I was crucified with Thee: Glorify me with Thee, 0
Savior, in Thy kingdom (Ode 3, Paschal Canon).
THE PROCESSION
The divine services of the night of Pascha commence near midnight of Holy
Saturday. At the Ninth Ode of the Canon of Nocturn, the priest, already vested
in his brightest robes, removes the Holy Shroud from the tomb and carries it to
the altar table, where it remains until the leave-taking of Pascha. The faithful
stand in darkness. Then, one by one, they light their candles from the candle
held by the priest and form a great procession out of the church. Choir,
servers, priest and people, led by the bearers of the cross, banners, icons and
Gospel book, circle the church. The bells are rung incessantly and the angelic
hymn of the resurrection is chanted.
The procession comes to a stop before the principal doors of the church. Before
the closed doors the priest and the people sing the troparion of Pascha, "Christ
is risen from the dead. . .", many tImes. Even before entenng the church the
priest and people exchange the paschal greeting: "Christ is nsen! Indeed He is
risen!" This segment of the paschal services is extremely important. It
preserves in the expenence of the Church the primitive accounts of the
resurrection of Christ as recorded in the Gospels. The angel rolled away the
stone from the tomb not to let a biologically revived but physically entrapped
Christ walk out, but to reveal that "He is not here; for He has risen, as He
said" (Matt. 28:6).
In the paschal canon we sing:
Thou didst arise, 0 Christ, and yet the tomb remained sealed, as at Thy birth
the Virgin's womb remained unharmed; and Thou has opened for us the gates of
paradise (Ode 6).
Finally, the procession of light and song in the darkness of night, and the
thunderous proclamation that, indeed, Christ is risen, fulfill the words of the
Evangelist John: "The light shines in darkness, and the darkness has not
overcome it" (John 1:5).
The doors are opened and the faithful re-enter. The church is bathed in light
and adorned with flowers. It is the heavenly bride and the symbol of the empty
tomb:
Bearing life and more fruitful than paradise Brighter than any royal chamber,
Thy tomb, 0 Christ, is the fountain or our resurrection (Paschal Hours).
MATINS
Matins commences immediately. The risen Christ is glorified in the singing of
the beautiful canon of St. John of Damascus. The paschal greeting is repeatedly
exchanged. Near the end of Matins the paschal verses are sung. They relate the
entire narrative of the Lord's resurrection. They conclude with the words
calling us to actualize among each other the forgiveness freely given to all by
God:
This is the day of resurrection. Let us be illumined by the feast. Let us
embrace each other. Let us call "brothers" even those who hate us, And forgive
all by the resurrection. . .
The sermon of St. John Chrysostom is then read by the celebrant. The sermon was
originally composed as a baptismal instruction. It is retained by the Church in
the paschal services because everything about the night of Pascha recalls the
Sacrament of Baptism: the language and general terminology of the liturgical
texts, the specific hymns, the vestment color, the use of candles and the great
procession itself. Now the sermon invites us to a great reaffirmation of our
baptism: to union with Christ in the receiving of Holy Communion.
If any man is devout and loves God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant
triumphal feast. . . the table is fully laden; feast you all sumptuously. . .
the calf is fatted, let no one go hungry away. . .
THE DIVINE LITURGY
The sermon announces the imminent beginning of the Divine Liturgy. The altar
table is fully laden with the divine food: the Body and Blood of the risen and
glorified Christ. No one is to go away hungry. The service books are very
specific in saying that only he who partakes of the Body and Blood of Christ
eats the true Pascha. The Divine Liturgy, therefore, normally follows
immediately after paschal Matins. Foods from which the faithful have been asked
to abstain during the lenten journey are blessed and eaten only after the Divine
Liturgy.
THE DAY WITHOUT EVENING
Pascha is the inauguration of a new age. It reveals the mystery of the eighth
day. It is our taste, in this age, of the new and unending day of the Kingdom of
God. Something of this new and unending day is conveyed to us in the length of
the paschal services, in the repetition of the paschal order for all the
services of Bright Week, and in the special paschal features retained in the
services for the forty days until Ascension. Forty days are, as it were, treated
as one day. Together they comprise the symbol of the new time in which the
Church lives and toward which she ever draws the faithful, from one degree of
glory to another.
0 Christ, great and most holy Pascha. 0 Wisdom, Word and Power of God, grant
that we may more perfectly partake of Thee in the never-ending day of Thy
kingdom (Ninth Ode, Paschal Canon).
