Pascha
by Nicol Zabak (Apr. '01)
The Paschal Service is the most joyous and elaborate worship service of the Orthodox Church with its procession, candles, and joyful hymns. This service is very different from others because it is a triumph from our own forty-day journey of Great Lent.
Great Lent is the time in which we re-focus our daily routines and discipline our habits to become closer to God. It is a different experience that everyone encounters which involves constant prayer and fasting. The various Sundays throughout the Lenten season remind us to keep our focus on Christ in all that we do. For example, the fifth Sunday of Great Lent is dedicated to St. Mary of Egypt. She lived in Alexandria where she was an actress and prostitute. One year out of curiosity, she made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. She has become famous everywhere for her renunciation of worldly pleasure and is known as “the Penitent Saint.” It is at these times we are reminded that it is never too late to begin a fast or sacrifice an object in order to reach our ultimate goal of salvation.
Holy Week is a very solemn and quiet time in which we read the 12 Passion Gospels, experience Christ’s crucifixion on the Cross, His descent into Hades to loose the bonds of Hell (also translated as “destroyed the bonds of hell”), and finally His triumph into Heaven! We enter into a special quiet time of our life during Holy Week when we reflect Christ, shunning earthly pleasures and ourselves from the outside world.
All of this changes on the night of Pascha, as the service and liturgy are amazing and beautiful. The lights are bright and Christ has risen from the dead to save us from our sins. He took the form of being truly God and truly man in order to present Himself in the divine and human natures. Without Jesus, we would have not been able to repent and enter the Kingdom of Heaven. His true love for us is very evident when He sacrificed His life for us on the cross. He rose from the dead after three days, and some believed that they saw Him up in the high Heavens and others doubted… even to this day. But He told them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).
Christ died for us and we rejoice at His victory over death on the night of Pascha. But no matter the circumstances He is always there for us and provides us with what we need. We should recognize His unconditional love for us and sacrifice a little something for Christ right now if you haven’t started.
