Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Orthodox Christians celebrate Pascha (Easter) on May 5
The holiest days on the Orthodox Christian Church calendar will be celebrated this year with Easter Sunday on May 5.
Orthodox Christians typically say “Pascha” when referring to Easter. The Orthodox Church, which traces its roots to the Day of Pentecost in 33 A.D., follows the Julian Calendar when determining the date for Pascha, as it has done from the earliest centuries of Christianity.
After six weeks of Great Lent and celebration of Palm Sunday, Holy Week begins and finishes with services, each with special meaning, on Holy Friday and Holy Saturday. Then comes Pascha to celebrate Christ’s Resurrection from the dead.
Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in Pottstown, like most Orthodox parishes, will begin the Paschal Resurrection Matins at 11:30
p.m. on Saturday, May 4. This year the main celebrant will be His Eminence Archbishop Mark, the leading cleric of the Diocese of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania in the Orthodox Church in America.
At midnight on Saturday in a completely darkened church, the clergy in white vestments will come out of the altar singing the angelic resurrection hymn. Archbishop Mark, carrying one lighted candle, will announce, “Come, take the Light.” Each person in the church lights their own candle from his candle, and so begins the Paschal procession with everyone walking outside around the church three times to symbolize the myrrh-bearing women finding the empty tomb.
Once back at the door of the church, a dialogue between the priest and people begins as they proclaim, “Christ is Risen!” and sing over and over the Paschal hymn: “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death. And upon those in the tombs bestowing life”
The church bells ring constantly, the church doors are opened, and the people walk back into the church now flooded with light to celebrate Divine Liturgy.
The Plaschanitza, the cloth that depicts the image of Christ in the tomb, no longer needs to be in the center of the church because the faithful now celebrate the empty tomb and Christ’s Resurrection. Flowers that once adorned the Plaschanitza are placed around the church interior. Children and babies stay awake for this middle-ofthe-night celebration.
After celebrating Divine Liturgy, Archpriest John Edward, who is rector at Holy Trinity Orthodox Church, will bless Easter baskets filled with traditional Easter foods such as ham, lamb, cheeses, butter, Easter breads from special recipes for kulich and babka, colored hard-cooked eggs — all foods not eaten during the fasting season of Great Lent. The faithful then enjoy an agape meal before returning home, often at 3 a.m.
“Holy Trinity Orthodox Church welcomes visitors to all our Paschal services,” said Father John. All the services will be chanted in English, although on Pascha everything is sung with melodies from the heritage of Slavic, Greek, Bulgarian, Romanian, and American folk cultures.
The services leading up to Pascha are:
• Thursday, May 2: Holy Thursday Divine Liturgy 9:30 a.m.
• Thursday, May 2: Holy Friday Matins 6:30 p.m. with Reading of the Twelve Gospels.
• Friday, May 3: Royal Hours at 9:30 a.m. and Vespers at 2 p.m. (Burial of Christ).
• Friday, May 3: Matins 6:30 p.m. The Lamentations at Christ’s Tomb and Procession of the Myrrh-Bearing Women seeking to anoint the Body of Jesus.
• Saturday, May 4: Holy Saturday Divine Liturgy 9:30 a.m.
• Saturday, May 4: 11:30 p.m. Pascha Nocturns with Procession. Resurrection Matins and Divine Liturgy followed by Blessing of Easter Baskets and Agape meal.
• Sunday, May 5: Paschal Vespers at 12 noon.