HOLY PASCHA
Metro Orthodox churches mark Easter on same day as their Western counterparts
The Rev. Jeremy Davis planned to lead a candle-light processional around his Norman church at midnight Saturday. As the clock turns to Easter Sunday, he will stop to knock emphatically on the front door of the worship center.
If all went according to plan and ritual, here’s what was said:
“Lift up your gates, O ye princes; and be ye lifted up, ye ever-lasting gates, and the King of glory shall enter in,” Davis said.
“Who is the King of glory?” a lone parishioner would have replied from inside Holy Ascension Orthodox Church, 3350 12th Ave. NE.
“The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in war,” Davis answered.
Twice more the priest and the parishioner would repeat the same words, completing “The Opening of the Doors” ceremony with the symbolic opening of the front doors of Holy Ascension.
The jubilant congregation would follow Davis into the church to joyfully celebrate Holy Pascha — Easter in the Orthodox Christian Church.
For the first time in several years, Oklahoma City metro-area Orthodox Christian churches are commemorating Christ’s resurrection at the same time as their non-Orthodox counterparts.
Eastern Orthodox Christians following the Julian calendar typically celebrate Easter on different dates from Christians in the West, who follow the Gregorian calendar. The Rev. John Salem, senior pastor of St. Elijah, one of the largest Orthodox churches in the metro, said sometimes the dates of Orthodox Easter and Western Easter commemorations are more than a month apart.
Both Eastern Orthodox Christians and Western Christians may be marking Christianity’s holiest day on the same day, but they are doing so in different ways.
Like Davis’ congregation, parishioners at St. Elijah’s, 15000 N May Ave., and St. George’s Greek Orthodox Church, 2101 NW 145, also will gather outside their church at midnight Sunday for the solemn and triumphant ritual of the opening of the doors.
Salem said his church members will have participated in the ritual and more of the Paschal liturgy, blessed their food and eaten a huge Pascha feast before they leave their house of worship just before sunrise.
By contrast, their Christian neighbors at an Episcopalian church a few doors down and a large Baptist church nearby will be showing up for their own Easter worship services, traditionally held mid-morning on Sunday.
The Rev. John Tsaras, pastor of St. George’s, said there are always lots of questions from the community-at-large when they learn that Orthodox churches don’t always celebrate Easter at the same time as other Christian churches.
Pascha traditions continue
Tsaras said the Orthodox Christian faith community has deep roots in Oklahoma, beginning with Sts. Cyril and Methodius Russian Orthodox Church in Hartshorne.
A group of CarpathoRussian immigrants came to the United States and settled in Hartshone, then in Indian Territory, to mine coal, according to the Oklahoma Historical Society. They built an Orthodox house of worship in 1897, and eventually replaced it in 1917 with another church structure that still stands today.
He said most of the metro Orthodox churches were established by immigrants from other countries who brought their religious customs with them when they came to the U.S.
Tsaras and Salem said some of those customs are different.
For instance, Tsaras said his church served as a temporary home for an Ethiopian Orthodox church for several years. He said during Pascha, his Greek congregation often eats Magiritsa, Greek Easter soup, as part of the holiday celebration.
He said church members were initially hesitant when the Ethiopians in their midst invited them to partake of their particular Easter foods because the Greeks were not familiar with the cuisine.
Tsaras laughed as he said that hesitancy didn’t last long. Having enjoyed the food prepared by members of St. George Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, there was a line from the Greek congregation waiting to sample the fare the next year.
The clergy leaders said some traditions are the same among most Orthodox churches. One of those customs is the tradition of dying eggs a vivid color of red during Holy Week.
At St. George’s Greek Orthodox Church, a group of church members gathered on Maundy Thursday to dye 18 dozen eggs for distribution on Pascha.
Kathleen Panos Calbos said she remembered as a young girl she often cried out for the eggs dyed in various colors that children at non-Orthodox churches would search for during Easter egg hunts.
Calbos said her mother relented and dyed a few eggs in different colors, but they were not for the holiday.
“Now, I love it but when you’re little growing up in Oklahoma, you want the colored eggs,” Calbos said, smiling. “We would hunt for the ‘Oklahoma’ eggs but on Easter the eggs on the table were red.”
Tsaras said the red eggs are traditionally distributed at Easter because eggs symbolize new life and the red color represents the blood of Christ. He said St. George’s dyes its Pascha eggs with a special dye ordered from Greece by one of the church’s members who owns Mediterranean Imports & Deli in Oklahoma City.
Pascha liturgy remains constant
Salem said the days leading up to Pascha are some of the most meaningful and solemn in the Orthodox Church.
Davis in Norman and Tsaras shared the same sentiments.
Among the services held at Orthodox churches just over a week from Pascha is Lazarus Saturday, held this year on April 8.
Salem said Lazarus Saturday is commemorated because Jesus’ raising Lazarus from the dead, as chronicled in Scripture, is a foreshadowing of Christ’s own resurrection. He said the miracle of Lazarus is also when theologians think that Jesus’ enemies began to solidify their plot against him.
Davis said one of the more solemn aspects of Holy Week liturgy is the Good Friday processional that typically takes place around the exterior of the church during good weather. Davis, who has been pastor of Holy Ascension for two years, said the processional is similar to a funeral for Jesus.
The next day, however, the clergy leaders’ congregations gather again at 11 p.m. Then at midnight, congregants walk around their churches and stand outside the church doors for the ceremony that links to their counterparts in ancient times.
With candles in the dark, church members walk into their house of worship where the lights that had once been turned off are suddenly glowing bright to represent Christ’s triumphant resurrection.
Solemnity is replaced with jubilance, mourning for joy, death for new life.
“It’s just a beautiful time,” said Salem. “A beautiful time.”