At the stroke of Midnight, the clergy come out of the Holy Altar, all of the candles are lit,
and a joyous, festive procession circles the church three times with the
singing of the hymn: “Thy Resurrection, O Christ our Savior, the angels in
heaven sing. Enable us on earth to glorify Thee in purity of heart.” Stopping
before the closed outer doors of the church, the Priest exclaims the Paschal
verses, “Let God arise...,” while the Faithful sing the triumphant Paschal
hymn, “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon
those in the tombs bestowing life.”
The Clergy and Faithful now re-enter
the church and the singing of the Paschal Canon, “This is the Day of
Resurrection...,” with numerous repetitions of the Paschal hymn, “Christ is
risen...,” begins. At many points during the Service the Clergy exclaim,
“Christ is risen!” and the Faithful respond, “Indeed, He is risen!” The church
is filled with the Faithful holding lit candles and the Clergy in bright
vestments. At the conclusion of the Matins, the catechetical address of St.
John Chrysostom is read, summoning all, even those who have come only at the
eleventh hour, to the great Paschal Banquet. Matins is then followed by the
Paschal Liturgy.
[The
Catechetical Sermon of St. John Chrysostom is read by the Celebrant at the end
of the Pascha Matins. No one sits during the reading, but all stand and listen
with reverence.]
If any man be devout and Coves God,
let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal Feast. If any man be a wise
servant, let him, with, rejoicing, enter into the joy of his Lord. If any have
labored long in fasting, let him now receive his recompense. If any have
wrought from the first hour, let him today receive his just reward. If any have
come at the third hour, let him with thankfulness keep the Feast. If any have
arrived at the sixth hour, let him have no misgivings; because he shad in no
way be deprived thereof. If any have delayed until the ninth hour, let him draw
near, fearing nothing. If any have tarried even until the eleventh hour, let
him, a(so, be not alarmed at his tardiness; for the Lord, Who is jealous of His
honor, will accept the Cost even as the first; He gives rest to him who comes
at the eleventh hour, even as to him. who has wrought from the first hour. And
he shows mercy upon the last, and cares for the first, and to the one He gives,
and upon the other He Bestows gifts. And He both accepts the deeds, and
welcomes the intention, and honors the acts and praises the offering.
Wherefore,
enter all of you into the joy of your Lord, and receive your reward, both, the
first, and likewise the second. You rich and poor together, hold high festival.
You sober and you heedless, honor the day. Rejoice today, both, you who have
fasted and you who have disregarded the Fast. The table is fully-laden) all of
you feast sumptuously. The calf is fatted; let no one go hungry away. Enjoy all
of you the Feast of faith: Receive all the riches of Coving-fondness. Let no
one bewail his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed. Let no one
weep for his iniquities, for pardon has shone forth from the grave.
Let no
one fear death, for the Savior's death has set us free. He that was held prisoner
of it has annihilated it. By descending into Hell, He made Hell captive. He
embittered it when it tasted of His flesh. And Isaiah, foretelling this, did
cry: Hell, said he, was embittered, when it encountered Thee in the lower
regions. It was embittered, for it was abolished. It was embittered, for it was
mocked. It was embittered, for it was slain, It was embittered, for it was
overthrown. It was embittered, for it was fettered in chains. It took a body,
and met God face to face. It took earth and encountered Heaven. It took that
which was seen, and fell upon the unseen.
O Death,
where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory? Christ is risen, and you
are overthrown. Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen. Christ is risen,
and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life reigns. Christ is risen, and
not one dead remains in the grave. For Christ, being risen from the dead, is
become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep. To Him be glory and
dominion unto ages of ages. Amen.
At the conclusion of the Liturgy, a
special bread, called the Artos, is placed before the opened Holy Doors and the
clergy and faithful proceed to the Blessing of the Paschal Baskets in which the
faithful have placed specially prepared foods from which they had abstained
during the Great Lent. A special item among these foods is the decorated Pascha
bread (in Russian — Kulich), as well as specially-prepared cheese and egg
dishes. Thus we celebrate the Glorious Resurrection of Our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ.
In the Orthodox Church it is the
custom for a single loaf of blessed bread (Greek — Artos) to lie before the
Iconostasis throughout Bright Week in memory of the Risen Christ, before it is
shared out among the whole congregation. Depicted on the top of the Artos are
either the symbol of Christ's victory over death — the Cross, surmounted by a
crown of thorns, or the Resurrection of Christ. On the first day of Pascha,
during the Liturgy, after the Prayer Before the Ambo, the Artos is blessed by a
special prayer and sprinkling with Holy Water. Throughout Bright Week, at the
end of the Liturgy, the Artos is carried around the church in solemn procession.
On the Saturday of Bright Week it is distributed as a blessing of the
Archpastor to the congregation (sometimes after Sunday Liturgy on St. Thomas Sunday).
The significance of the Artos is
that it serves to remind all Christians of the events connected with the
Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. While still living on earth, the Lord
called Himself the Bread of Life, saying: I
am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and He who believes
in Me shall never thirst (John 6:35). After His Resurrection,
more than once Jesus appeared to His disciples, ate before them and blessed
their own food. For example, as evening fell on the first day of His
Resurrection, He was recognized in Emmaus by two of His disciples as He blessed
and broke bread (Luke 24:13-35).
On the 40th day after His
Resurrection, the Lord ascended into heaven, and His disciples and followers
found comfort in their memories of the Lord: they recalled His every word, His
every step and His every action. When they met for common prayer, they would
partake of the Body and Blood of Christ, remembering the Last Supper. When they
sat down to an ordinary meal, they would leave a place at the head of the table
empty for the invisibly present Lord and would lay bread on that place.
Remembering this custom of the
Apostles', the Fathers of the Church made it their custom to put out the Artos
at the Paschal Feast in memory of the appearances of the Risen Lord to His disciples,
and also in memory of the fact that the Lord Who suffered and was resurrected
for our justification has made Himself the true Bread of Life and is invisibly
present in His church always, to the close of the age (Matt. 28:20).
Whereas special Paschal breads,
called kulichi are broken and eaten on the first day of Pascha, the Artos is
kept whole throughout the whole of Bright Week as a reminder of the presence of
the Risen Savior in the midst of those who believe in Him and is only divided
and distributed on Saturday. In this way Bright Week begins and ends with the
eating of especially baked and blessed bread.
The Artos may also be compared to
the unleavened bread of the Old Testament, of which ancient Israel, delivered
from their captivity in the land of Egypt, ate during the week of the Passover
(Ex. 12:15-20). As Cyril, Bishop of Turov, who lived during the 12th Century in
Russia, said in a sermon for the Sunday after Pascha: “Even as the Jews bore
the unleavened bread upon their heads out of Egypt through the desert (Ex.
12:34) until they had crossed the Red Sea, after which they dedicated the bread
to God, divided it amongst all their host, and having all eaten thereof,
became...terrible to their enemies, even so do we, saved by our Resurrected
Lord from the captivity of that Pharaoh of the mind, the Devil, bear forth the
blessed bread — the Artos — from the day of the Resurrection of Christ and,
finally, having dedicated this bread to God, we eat of it and preserve it to
the health of body and soul.”
It is a custom among Russian
Orthodox Christians to this day to keep the Artos throughout the year and with
due reverence and faith to eat of it in time of illness or distress. This is
eaten, often together with a drink of Holy Water, which had been blessed at the
Feast of the Theophany of Our Lord.