The Shepherd, April 2006
Adapted from
“THE HOUSE OF GOD AND THE CHURCH SERVICES, 1”
By the Priest N. R. Antonov
Continuation
§ 121. The Services of the Festival of Pascha (Easter). The greatest of all the Christian feasts, both according to the importance of the sacred events commemorated and the solemnity of the church services is the feast of Pascha, which celebrates, of course, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Before the beginning of the service, the faithful gathering in church listen to the reading of the Acts of the Apostles. The services themselves begin with Nocturns, the midnight office, and during this we chant the canon, “The waves of the sea.” During the singing of the ninth ode, “Weep not for me, O Mother,” after being censed, the Winding-Sheet is carried back into the altar. At the end of Nocturns, Paschal Mattins begins. In their most festive vestments, the clergy with the Cross, the Gospel Book and the sacred sacred icons, come forth and lead a procession around the church to the chanting of the hymn, “Angels in the heavens, O Christ our Saviour, praise Thy Resurrection with hymns; deem us also who are on earth worthily to glorify Thee with a pure heart.” The procession with the cross recalls the Ointment-bearing Women, who came to the Tomb at deep dawn, so that they might anoint the Body of Jesus Christ. The procession comes to a halt in front of the western doors of the church, which are closed, so that like the Ointment-bearing Women we first hear the news of the resurrection at the door of the Tomb. [Sometimes, recalling this, a Gospel lection (Mark 16:1-8) is read here.] The priest censing the icons and the people present, begins the Mattins service with the exclamation; “Glory to the Holy, and Consubstantial, and Life-creating, and Indivisible Trinity.” The church meanwhile is lighted with a multitude of candles and lamps. The choir of the clergy chant, the troparion of the festival, “Christ is risen from the dead, by death hath He trampled down death, and on those in the graves hath He bestowed life.” The choir also sing this, interspersed with the special paschal verses: “Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered” &c. After this, the priest, holding the Cross in his hands, enters through the doors which have been thrown open, as if the Angel had rolled away the stone from the entrance to the Tomb, and the whole procession, clergy and people together, enter the church, repeatedly singing the joyous hymn, “Christ is risen from the dead.” After the Great Litany, we begin the Paschal canon, chanted to its special joyous melodies, “It is the day of Resurrection, let us be radiant, O ye peoples.” This canon was composed by Saint John of Damascus and is throughout a festive hymn to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and His Divine majesty. The troparia on the canon are not read as is usual, but with the responses, either “Christ is risen from the dead” or “Glory to Thy holy Resurrection, O Lord,” they are chanted. During the canon, the clergy cense the icons and people, and greet them with the joyous exclamation, “Christ is Risen!” To which the people respond, “Truly, He is Risen!” The many times on which the clergy come out to cense and to greet the people remind us of the many times that their Lord appeared to His disciples and their joy at seeing Him Risen. After each ode of the canon, we have a Little Litany, and at the end of the canon the following exapostilarion:-
“When Thou hadst fallen asleep in the flesh as one mortal,
O King and Lord, Thou didst rise again on the third day,
raising up Adam from corruption, and abolishing death:
O Pascha of incorruption! O Salvation of the world!”
After this mattinal exapostilarion, we chant the Praises, “Let every breath praise the Lord,” and the verses appointed on them. To this we add the paschal verses, “Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered.” During these verses, all the faithful greet each other with the paschal kiss, and the greeting “Christ is Risen!” with its response “Truly, He is Risen!” Sometimes they exchange easter eggs at this point too, as symbols of the new, eternal and blessed life which has been revealed to us from the Tomb of the Saviour. After the chanting of the paschal verses, the homily of Saint John Chrysostom is read, which begins with the words, “If any be pious and a lover of God, let him delight in this fair and radiant festival.” Then we have the usual two litanies, the threefold one and the supplicatory one, and the dismissal of Mattins, which is pronounced by the priest holding the Cross in his hands. Then again, he exclaims: “Christ is Risen!” 
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