Happy Pascha everyone!
Heather and I just returned from Paschal Services and it is 3:59 am… we left the house at 11:10. There are no words to describe the Paschal Service, other than to repeat the words I spoke to my wife while we were waiting for our car to warm up outside of the temple space. “Pascha is why I am Orthodox” I said to her, and she responded “Yeah, I know what you mean.”
Right about now myself, my wife and our fellow faithful of St. Athanasius Orthodox Church are walking in Procession in front of our Store Front Temple, candles in hand singing:
Thy Resurrection, O Christ our Savior, the angels in heaven sing.
Enable us on earth to glorify Thee in purity of heart.
Then before the doors of our Church the Clergy present sing a call and response hymn:
Verse 1: Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered,
and let those who hate Him flee from His face.
Verse 2: As smoke vanishes, let them vanish;
as wax melts before the fire.
Verse 3: So let the sinners perish before God,
but let the righteous rejoice.
Verse 4: This is the day which the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
The faithful respond after each verse with the Paschal Troparian:
Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death,
and to those in the tombs bestowing life!
We then move onto a 3 hour or so service. Not for the faint of heart, surely but for those of us who crave an authentic, sacremental relationship with God, there is no other way.
So again I say to you, my friends (hopefully in your own language, or one close to it), believers or not…
Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!
Khristus anahgrecum! Alhecum anahgrecum!
El Messieh kahm! Hakken kahm!
Helisituosi fuhuole! Queshi fuhuole!
Le Christ est ressuscite! En verite il est ressuscite!
Kriost eirgim! Eirgim!
Christus ist erstanden! Er ist wahrhaftig erstanden!
Christos anesti! Alithos anesti!
Kristus er oppstanden! Han er sannelig oppstanden!
Khristus zmartvikstau! Zaiste zmartvikstau!
Cristo ressuscitou! Em verdade ressuscitou!
Cristos a inviat! Adevarat a inviat!
Khristos voskrese! Voistinu voskrese!
Khristos voskres! Voistinu voskres!
And I will of course post sometime about why I am celebrating Pascha (easter) in May instead of the normal time…
Stroll on over and visit Michele
March 1, 2007
Hey, I can’t see Italian! :)
Anyway, happy Pascha, Chris…
Stroll on over and visit Leo
March 1, 2007
Wow… even in portuguese!
Happy pascha from Brazil. Here we say “pascoa” for easter, so it didn’t sound strange for me.
Stroll on over and visit Carla
March 1, 2007
God bless!
Stroll on over and visit Chris J. Davis
March 1, 2007
Yes I am planning on adding them to the Church site once I have a free moment to do so, never fear!
Stroll on over and visit Melvin Rivera
March 1, 2007
he is risen indeed
Stroll on over and visit valerie
March 1, 2007
Very interesting… I am Christian, but Baptist, and I’ve actually never heard of Pascha before. I don’t even know where the nearest Orthodox church is to us, I don’t think we have one within 50 miles at least. But thanks for the info, will have to read more about this. :-)
Stroll on over and visit clint
March 1, 2007
“He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.”
Matthew 28:6
Hallelujah!
my fav part of that scripture is “as he said” God is faithful to His Word.
Stroll on over and visit James
March 1, 2007
Chris,
I noticed that you took pictures at Pascha. Are you planning to put them on your blog or on the church’s web site? I’d love to see some of them.
James