THE RESURRECTION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST PASCHA

Holy Easter is the Feast of Feasts which celebrates the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead.

The Services of Passion Week are deliberately designed by the Church to help us re-live in a very real way the Sufferings, Death and then the Resurrec­tion of Christ. On Holy Thursday we hear Christ bid farewell to us in the long first Gospel Lesson. On Great Friday we re-live the agony of the crucifixion. We go through a funeral Service involving the burial of Christ. He is placed in the tomb, and people come to weep at it. And then on the "day that the Lord hath made," all sadness turns to gladness, all darkness turns to brightness, for Christ rises from the dead (Paschal Verse 4).

"In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, there was a great earthquake; for the Angel of the Lord descended from Heaven, and came and rolled away the stone from the tomb, and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his garment white as snow; and for fear of Him the military guard did shake, and became as dead men" (Matt. 28 : 1-3).

As had been predicted Christ rose the third day after His death. Mary Magdalene and Mary the Mother of James and Salome had bought sweet spices and wanting to anoint Jesus early on Easter morning they came to the tomb, in which Jesus had been buried. They saw that the big stone had been rolled away from the door of the tomb, and entering into the tomb they saw an Angel wearing a white robe. The Angel told them: "Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, Who has been crucified, He has risen, He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him. But go and tell His disciples about His Resurrection" (Mark 16 : 6-7). And they went and told the disciples and all the rest about it.

The mighty event of the Resurrection of Christ, the miracle of miracles hap­pened on the first day of the week. This day is known as Sunday and should always be kept holy and spent in attendance at Church Services.

The Resurrection of Christ is the crowning proof that Jesus is the Son of God, Who gave us immortal life beyond the grave and that death does not end all, but the soul lives after the body dies. The Resurrection is the foundation of our Christian faith. Apostle Paul states that "if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain and our faith also" (1 Cor. 15 : 14).

At Easter, Orthodox Christians bring their Easter baskets to Church for blessing. They put into them: Easter bread (called Pascha), eggs, ham, sausage, cheese, butter, salt and bitter herbs. Some people put vegetables and fruit as well. A lighted candle is put in each basket. These Easter baskets symbolize a humble offering made to our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pascha is blessed, for it represents our staff of life, and Jesus is our new staff of eternal life. The eggs represent to us the sepulchre (the grave). It is a reminder for us that we shall also be sealed in a grave, and when the time comes, we shall burst open our graves and arise into a new and eternal life. The red color of the egg recalls to us that by the Blood of Jesus we were freed from sin and death. We also beautify the egg with many colors to remind ourselves that life with Jesus is beautiful beyond words, but to attain it we must beautify our Christian life with good deeds.

There is a tradition that tells us that the first Easter egg was given by St. Mary Magdalene to the Roman emperor Tiberius, when she was brought before him and accused of being a Christian. She took the egg and by it demonstrated the belief of Christians in eternal life, and by her presentation she persuaded the emperor to stop the persecution of Christians.

DATES OF HOLY EASTER (PASCHA)

(All dates shown as they occur on the modern Gregorian Calendar)

Note: PALM SUNDAY is always one week before EASTER.