Balancing the seven weeks of Lent and Holy Week, there follows after Easter a corresponding season of fifty days of thanksgiving, concluding with Pentecost.Įach of these seasons has its own liturgical book. First come twenty-two days (four successive Sundays) of preliminary observance then the six weeks or forty days of the Great Fast of Lent and finally Holy Week. So it is that before the festival of Easter there has developed a long preparatory season of repentance and fasting, extending in present Orthodox usage over ten weeks. ' Without this waiting, without this expectant preparation, the deeper meaning of the Easter celebration will be lost. ' We waited,' says Bishop Nikolai, 'and at last our expectations were ful- filled. Yet, in order for us to experience the full power of this Paschal re- joicing, each of us needs to pass through a time of preparation. This sense of resurrection joy, so vividly described by Bishop Nikolai, forms the foundation of all the worship of the Orthodox Church it is the one and only basis for our Christian life and hope. Only in the light of the Resurrection does life receive meaning.' "Christ is risen" sang the Greeks, the Russians, the Arabs, the Serbs, the Copts, the Armenians, the Ethiopians -one after another, each in his own tongue, in his own melody.Coming out from the service at dawn, we began to regard everything in the light of the glory of Christ's Resurrection, and all appeared different from what it had yesterday everything seemed better, more expressive, more glorious. All at once, from all around, the same cry resounded like the noise of many waters. We felt as if we also had been raised from the dead. 'When the Patriarch sang "Christ is risen", a heavy burden fell from our souls. 'We waited, and at last our expectations were fulfilled', writes the Serbian Bishop Nikolai of Ochrid, describing the Easter service at Jerusalem.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |