For the Orthodox and a few others, today is Pascha,the Resurrection of the Lord. Pascha means Passover, and it was the term used in the early Church to describe Christ’s passing into death and Resurrection as the penultimate Passover, as by so doing he trampled down death by death.
I’m going to steal a bit from my X post as I’m running on about four hours sleep in the last 24 hours. For all that I am conscious, I am not awake.
Orthodoxy celebrates Pascha as a moveable feast, while the Roman Catholic Church, and through it most Protestant Churches, have made it a fixed feast as it is supposed to make life easier. Arguments can be made for both ways, but I will say that keeping it moveable allows Christ’s death and resurrection to be celebrated as close to the actual anniversary as possible.
Historic records and early Christian tradition place the Crucifixion as taking place on 14 Nissan of the Jewish Calendar, which was March 25 on the Roman (Julian) calendar in use at the time. Which is also why Christmas is celebrated on 25 December as the Passion and Death is considered the theological precipitating event for the Birth of Christ. It is worth noting that the Annunciation, the conception of Christ, also takes place around the same time.
Today, the date for Orthodox Pascha is calculated based off several factors including the lunar calendar. As a result, most years there is a difference between Orthodox and Roman Catholic dates; but, sometimes they are the same (like last year).
It has been a LONG week and a half of services and more. If you want bright eyed and bushy tailed, go find a squirrel. 🙂
Aside from the midnight service this morning (which for me started about 7pm Saturday), the highlight was the baptism of 27 converts to Orthodoxy Saturday morning. I’m honored to be the sponsor/Godfather to one of them, a young Navy vet. Traditional Churches have seen a large influx of people interested in learning about traditional Christianity, and ours is no exception. At pretty much every service these days it is not unusual to see one or more first time visitors. Not just first time to our Church, but to an Orthodox Church — and sometimes their first visit to a Christian church. What is heartening is how many keep coming back.
There is something rather profound going on not just in America, but in the West in general. Quite a few of those coming to visit are young, as in mid- to late-teens and early twenties. There is also a percentage of older who are returning to Christianity. All the groups are looking for something that I can only describe as values. They have heard of, or experienced, faith without foundations, flitting around to the latest social causes and trends. Such faith is that of Birnam Wood, having no roots or foundation in Christ. Or, if Shakespeare is not to your taste, think of Dante’s shifters for such places of worship.
The good John Donovan, former proprietor of the Castle, turned me onto some writing by another that I want to cover soon. I’m actually not only re-reading the post he sent, but the posts that preceded it. I think he is right as it applies to his joining the Catholic Church and my embrace of Orthodoxy: We do it not because it is easy, or that we thought it would be easy; rather, we chose it because it is NOT easy and demands the best of us.
These new converts have seen what comes of always doing the easy thing. They understand that doing the right thing (in almost any context) is almost never easy. As such, they have started as inquirers, then after a time applied to become catechumens, worked through that process, and then those who made it through that are baptised into the Faith. It rarely is a quick process, and even then never easy. My own conversion was hurried a bit (6-8 month process as opposed to a year) as I was facing the prospect of yet more open heart surgery: surgery that didn’t happen as after my Baptism my heart was found to be completely healed from damage caused by the lightning strike. If you are wondering why I’m on the path I seem to be on…
The baptismal service was a bit long this year. For all that some of the readings and such were done (semi-quietly) as the baptisms were done, it still ran about four hours I think.
First, the cats, er, catechumens, were herded to the appropriate spot with their sponsors. I should also mention that we pretty much had to have a substitute choir to chant and sing as our music director and two or three of the rest of us (we are a small choir) were sponsors/Godparents and not available for our normal duties.
Once in place, there were the preparatory prayers for each catechumen. Then came the anointing with oil, that is applied to ten locations (12? Brain not working) on the person with corresponding prayer. Then comes the baptism by water, with three full immersions. A couple of the toddlers were not happy about that (not unexpected), but it was delightful watching the somewhat older children eagerly participate. I found out one young man of seven had not only installed a countdown app on his phone and programmed it for the start of the event, but had even slept on the floor of his room with his head against the door so that he would wake up as soon as someone started to open it.
Once dried off (mostly) and in their baptismal robes, the participants are then Chrismated. Following that, there is a procession (hey, processions are a part of the Orthodox DNA even if we don’t get to march all over Constantinople these days) which leads them up towards the altar so that they can participate fully in the liturgy that follows. As part of that, they partake of the Eucharist for the first time. Interesting thing is that they are required to wear their robes any time they are in the Church for the next 40 days. As part of that, they are to go first at many events, from venerations to partaking of the Eucharist. At the end of the service, the Chrismation is wiped off (in the earliest days of the Church, the person spent a week in the Church and only then was it removed).
With 27 to be baptized, it took a while. For me, sitting (well, standing mostly as Orthodox tradition is to stand for most of the service) with my Godson and some of his family, it was a delight to actually experience the Liturgy. When you are as involved as we are as chanters, you are focused on doing things right, what comes next, how do we handle X, etc. To experience the service as a regular participant was a needed reminder and delight.
Our midnight service uses a very old hymn rather extensively and I will leave you today with it and hope you enjoy it and it moves you. It is sung rather, er, energetically, if not in a martial manner, as well as joyously.
In the ancient Greek:
Χριστὸς Ἀνέστη ἐκ νεκρῶν
θανάτῳ θάνατον πατήσας
καὶ τοῖς ἐν τοῖς μνήμασι
ζωὴν χαρισάμενος.
In English:
Christ is risen from the dead,
trampling down death by death,
and upon those in the tombs
bestowing life.
In Church Slavonic:
Хрⷭ҇то́съ воскр҃се и҆з̾ ме́ртвыхъ,
сме́ртїю сме́рть попра́въ,
и҆ сꙋ̑щимъ во гробѣ́хъ
живо́тъ дарова́въ.
I wish you a Blessed and Wonderful Pascha!
