This is the alpha and the omega. This is the beginning and the end–an indescribable beginning and an incomprehensible end. This is the Christ. This is the king. This is Jesus. This is the general. This is the Lord. This is the one who rose up from the dead. This is the one who sits at the right hand of the Father. He bears the Father and is borne by the Father, to whom be the glory and the power forever. Amen.
- St. Melito of Sardis, On Pascha
Christ is Risen!’ Young and old, maidens,
everyone, little and great, prepare!
Inside the laurel-covered churches,
gather in the light of joy!
Open your arms and with them offer peace,
that the icons of the saints may see.
Embrace and kiss each other sweetly, lip on lip,
let friend and foe proclaim, ‘Christ is Risen!’
- Dionisios Solomos, “The day of Easter” (an excerpt)
Death was terrible to the human race before Christ’s death, but after Christ’s resurrection, man became terrible to death, for One of us has conquered death; He did not remain in the tomb, and did not see corruption. Passover was the freeing of Israel from Egypt. Our Pascha frees us from the slavery of death and corruption. Christ is risen! I now know that my salvation is truly wrought. I know that God truly appeared on earth. There have been great people, conquerors of the elements, conquerors of nature; but death cut them all down and revealed our common nothingness. Who has passed through the doors of death? It can only be God. This means that God was truly incarnate on earth, truly brought the healing cure against the corruption that corrodes and torments me. Incarnation and resurrection are united into one. The incarnation gave meaning to the resurrection, and the resurrection irrefutably convinces us of its truth and reality as something that is not a phantom or a dream.
- New Hieromartyr Hilarion (Troitsky), Archbishop of Verey
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within me, Christ below me, Christ above me, Christ at my right, Christ at my left, Christ in lying down, Christ in sitting, Christ in rising up, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks to me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.
- St. Patrick of Ireland
Saint George the Great-martyr and Trophy-bearer (commemorated on Easter Monday)
The holy, glorious and right-victorious Great-martyr and Trophy-bearer George was a Christian Roman soldier killed under Diocletian at the beginning of the fourth century. Though he was born in Cappadocia, his mother was from Palestine, and thus he is a particular favorite of many Palestinian Christians. He is also the patron saint of Moscow, Georgia, and England, amongst other places. The Church commemorates George on April 23, and the translation of his relics on November 3.
According to Tradition, George was born to a Christian family during the late 3rd century. His father was from Cappadocia and served as an officer of the army. His mother was from Lydda, Palestine. She returned to her native city as a widow along with her young son after the martyrdom of George’s father, where she provided him with a respectable education and raised him in piety.
The youth, it would seem, followed his father’s example in joining the army soon after his coming of age. He proved to be a charismatic soldier and consequently rose quickly through the military ranks of the time. By his late twenties he had gained the titles of tribunus (tribune) and later comes (count). By that time George had been stationed in Nicomedia as a member of the personal guard attached to Roman Emperor Diocletian (reign 284–305).
In 303, Diocletian issued an edict authorising the systematic persecution of Christians across the Empire. His caesar, Galerius, was supposedly responsible for this decision and would continue the persecution during his own reign (305–311). It is believed that George was ordered to take part in the persecution but instead confessed to being a Christian himself and criticised the imperial decision. An enraged Diocletian proceeded in ordering the torture of this apparent traitor and his execution.
Then, after innumerable forms of torture, George was executed by decapitation in front of Nicomedia’s defensive wall on April 23, 303. The witness of his suffering convinced Empress Alexandra and Athanasius, a pagan priest, to also become Christians, and so they also joined George in martyrdom as consequence. George’s body was then returned to Lydda for burial, where Christians soon came to honour George as a martyr.
O death, where is thy sting? O Hades, where is thy victory? Christ is risen, and you are overthrown! Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen! Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice! Christ is risen, and life reigns! Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in a tomb!
- From the Paschal Sermon of Saint John Chrysostom
Christ is risen from the dead, Trampling down death by death. And upon those in the tombs bestowing life.
Christ is Risen! Indeed, He is Risen!!!! Blessed Easter to all the Orthodox Christians around the world!
Orthodox Christian moments from Holy Friday
Do not neglect the Fast; it constitutes an imitation of Christ’s way of life…
- St. Anthony the Great
Happy Easter to all of you that celebrate it today! God bless you always, many and blessed years! <3
Also, to all of us that are still waiting for the Resurrection of our Lord, blessed fasting period!
Hello dear! :)
Andrei recently replied a similar question. It has to do with the fact that we have different traditions and different ways for calculating the Easter.
Here is an article and a graphic, if you want to find out more information.
God bless you, have a blessed remain of the Lent! :)
Bogdan, a good friend and reader of my blog that always submit many content submitted his own favourite chants for the 30 day Orthodox challenge. The first one is the Hymn of St. Kassiani, that is sing Holy Tuesday evening during the Matins of Holy Wednesday. The other one is a beautiful Romanian Orthodox chant, that you can find it here.
God bless you Bogdan and thank you for all your beautiful submissions! Don’t forget that you can submit content at Andrei’s blog as well!
30 day Orthodox challenge
Day 02 — Your favorite Feast Day
There are many feast days that I like very much, but if I had to choose, I would say that my favourite is the Feast of Feasts: Pascha (Easter). Every other feast day of the Church is connected -in one way or another- to this Great Feast, the Ressurection of Jesus. There are so many wonderful things to say for the meaning of this feast for all the Christians, however I will just talk about the Paschal Divine Liturgy on Holy Saturday night.
After 40 days of strict fasting and a week of a million long (but truly amazing!) Church services it’s a day to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ.
When everyone gets to the Church, it’s pitch black; the only thing that is lit is Vigil Lamp hanging above the altar table. The priest than takes his Pascha candle, lights it and turns to the parish singing the most beautiful song “Come receive the Light from the Light that is never overtaken by night and glorify Christ who is Risen from the dead”.
Then, the priest gives the Holy Light (the flame that appears every year miraculusly in Jesus tomb at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in a special Orthodox ceremony) to the rest of the parishioners. Before you know it, the whole church is aglow.
We all follow the clergy outside; yes I wrote outside. Doesn’t matter if its minus 40 degrees out or 40 above we all make a procession around the church with our candles lit. Once we get back to the main door of the church the clergy say some prayers and the parish sings the troparion of Pascha “Christ is risen from the dead…” and then the priest will shout “Christ is Risen” and the parish all respond loudly “Truly He is Risen” (if you have seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding, you will know what I mean, but they all say it in Greek ”Christos Anesti! Aleithos Anesti“!) The doors are opened and the whole Church is brilliantly lit, signifying an empty tomb.
The rest of the service is completed with plenty of beautiful Paschal Hymns, the priest throwing rose petals and the yawns of very sleepy children, if they have not already fallen asleep at their parent’s feet…
This is only a small taste of the long Paschal Divine Liturgy. Some of the traditions differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction (eg. right after the service in the Russian Orthodox Church, everyone gets their Pascha Baskets blessed by the priest, the Greek Orthodox receive blessed eggs etc - It depends)
To me, the Pascha is truly amazing. After the mourn and the tears of the Holy Week (and especially on the Holy Thursday and Friday) it follows happiness and joy! We have hope again, because we know that “Christ is Risen from the Dead, trembled the death by death”. I am really happy that for the next 40 days I greet others with “Christ is Risen”!
A unique Orthodox tradition:
On the Holy Saturday morning, the Orthodox Church commemorates the “first Resurrection”, the descent of Jesus into Hades.
We have a beautiful tradition that I’d like to share with you. When the priest starts to sing “Arise O God”, you can hear the noise inside the Church, made by people who hit metal boxes and the wooden seats in commemoration of the earthquake, which followed the death of the crucified Christ and His descent into Hades.
I miss the mixed joyful sadness (we call it “Χαρμολύπη” in Greek) of the Holy Week so much! Both mourn and tears but also great joy!
Hello dear friend,
I am so glad I received a message from you, even though I would prefer you to come off anon- if you have a tumblr account! :)
Well, actually, since I am from Greece, here we are all Orthodox, so I don’t have to explain to anyone why the Easter is different from Western Christians! :) But look, a long time ago, I found a lovely graphic that somehow explains the difference:
So, Orthodox Easter is never before or on the Jewish Feast of Passover as Jesus and the disciples observed Passover (Pasech) at the Last Supper.
Thank you very much for your kind words,
God bless you always!
