More than a month after their Western Counterparts in the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches have celebrated Easter, Eastern Orthodox churches will finally be filled with shouts of "Christ is risen!" and the faithful will be able to break their fast from meat and dairy products to feast on lamb, ham and hard-boiled eggs, and other traditional fare.
Due to a difference in how the date for the celebration of Christ's Resurrection is calculated, Eastern Christians sometimes celebrate Holy Pascha (or Passover) on the same date as Western Christians celebrate Easter, but most often there is a week's difference in the celebrations, and some years, such as this year, the difference is five weeks.
Orthodox Christians will celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ on May 5 this year. They will have prepared for this celebration by the 40 day Lenten fast in which the faithful focus on prayer, fasting and repentance. After a brief respite from fasting to celebrate Palm Sunday (where the believers enjoy fish, wine and oil, which have been abstained from in the previous 40 day fast), believers will intensify their preparation during Holy Week, or Great Week. Most Orthodox parishes will feature services every day.
These services include the "mystery" (known in the West as a sacrament) of Holy Unction, served on Wednesday night, where the faithful are anointed by oil in obedience to the Apostle James, who said: Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. (James 5:14).
After celebrating a Divine Liturgy (or Eucharistic Service) in remembrance of Christ's Mystical Supper with His Disciples on Thursday morning, the events of Christ's Crucifixion are revisited on Thursday evening, through the reading of the twelve Gospel passages that tell the story of His sacrificial death. The climax of the service comes with the clergy processing through the dimly lit church with a cross, to which they "nail" an image of Christ.
On Friday evening, May 3, the church is filled with worshippers who have come to "pay their respects," leaving a flower on the funeral bier of Christ, and singing the songs of Lamentation. But wait! What are these joyous strains that begin to be heard along with the verses of sorrow? Already, anticipation of the defeat of death is begun. The priest sprinkles all present with perfumed holy water, as the congregation sings: "Myrrh the women sprinkled, store of spices bringing, to your tomb, er' dawning."
Finally, it is late Saturday night (May 4). The Orthodox Christians are gathered in their churches, shortly before midnight. Although the church is still darkened, lit by just a few candles for the choir and readers, already you can tell that the purple that has clad the Altar and tables and clergy for the 40 days of Lent, has been changed to white. The chanters intone more hymns of sorrow, at the prospect of the Lord of Creation, crucified and lain in a tomb. " All things above the world and all below the earth quaked with fear at your death, as they saw you on the throne above and below in a tomb; for beyond understanding you appeared as a one dead, you the source of life."
But suddenly a lit candle comes out of the Holy Doors of the altar, carried by the priest. As he sings, "Come take light from the unwaning light, and let us glorify Christ, risen from the dead!" the worshippers come forward one by one to light their candle from the "Paschal Candle." Many of the faithful will take the light home with them to burn in their homes throughout the Paschal season, another 40 days.
Preceded by the clergy, the people file out of the Church, and traditionally process around it three times, reminding us of the three days Christ spent in the grave. After the reading of the Resurrection story from the Holy Gospel book, the believers sing the song they will so joyfully sing for the next forty days: "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tomb, bestowing life!"
After greeting each other with the Paschal Greeting: "Christ is risen!" He is risen indeed!", the people re-enter the church to celebrate with joy, by receiving Holy Communion on this, the feast of all feasts. After breaking their fast by having received the body and blood of Christ, the joyous worshippers retire to the church hall to finally partake of the foods that they have not enjoyed since before March 18.
The celebration of Holy Week, and the Great Feast of Holy Pascha is at the very center of the year for the Orthodox Church. The Western churches, have already celebrated, but what the Orthodox may have lack in precocity, they make up for in the joy that they celebrate their risen Lord.
