Preparing for Pascha
The Paschal midnight service is the most joyful event in the Orthodox year. Here is what to expect and how to prepare.
The timeline
Contact your parish to confirm exact times. At most parishes the schedule runs like this:
11:30 PM
Nocturns begin. The church is dark. You arrive, place your Easter basket downstairs, and take your candle.
Midnight
The Paschal Procession begins. All lights are extinguished. The priest brings fire from the altar and lights the first candle. The flame passes person to person until the whole church is lit. The procession goes outside.
12:30 AM
Pascha Matins begins. “Christ is Risen” is sung for the first time. It is the most emotionally powerful moment in Orthodox worship.
1:15 AM
The Paschal Divine Liturgy begins. It ends around 2:30 to 3:00 AM, followed by the Agape Feast downstairs.
What to bring
Bring a candle. Your parish may provide one, but bringing your own is fine.
Dress in layers for the outdoor procession, and bring an umbrella if rain is possible.
Bring your Easter basket, filled with the foods you have been fasting from: meat, dairy, cheese, and eggs. Bring a dish to share for the common table as well.
Bring hard-boiled red-dyed eggs. These are placed in a basket at the foot of the ambon before the service and handed out by the priest at the end. Red symbolizes the Blood of Christ and the joy of the Resurrection.
Your Easter basket
Fill your basket with everything you have been fasting from: meat, dairy, cheese, and eggs. If your basket is filled with vegetables, people will wonder.
When you arrive on Saturday night, bring your basket downstairs and place it on the table with the others before the service begins. After the Pascha service, the priests bless all the baskets with Holy Water. Then everyone sits down together for the Agape Feast: the Lenten fast is over, and the eating begins.
Many families also bring a dish to share for the common table. This is not required but is a beautiful custom.
Break the fast wisely
You have fasted for seven weeks, eight if you count Cheesefare week. Do not dive directly into the Easter basket. Your stomach will remind you that it disagrees.
The Russian custom is to eat one of the red hard-boiled eggs first. It prepares your stomach for what follows. Even then, eat in moderation to start. The feast lasts forty days. There is no hurry.
What happens during the service
1. The church is completely dark. All lights are extinguished. This represents the tomb of Christ before the Resurrection.
2. The priest brings the new light from the altar. In many parishes, this flame traces back to the Holy Fire received at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, where the Resurrection took place. He lights the first candle. She turns and lights the next. The flame passes person to person until everyone is holding light.
3. The procession goes outside. The priest reads the Gospel of the Resurrection at the closed doors, representing the women arriving to find the tomb empty.
4. The doors open. “Christ is Risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!” The entire congregation sings this together.
5. The Paschal Liturgy begins. It is the regular Divine Liturgy but filled with joy, continuous singing, and the repeated proclamation “Christ is Risen!”
6. After the service, the Paschal greeting begins. When someone says “Christ is Risen!” you respond “Indeed He is Risen!” In Greek: “Christos Anesti!” / “Alithos Anesti!” In Slavonic: “Khristos Voskrese!” / “Voistinu Voskrese!” Continue this greeting for the next forty days, through Ascension.
Agape Vespers on Sunday morning
On Pascha Sunday afternoon, the Church gathers again for Agape Vespers, usually around 4 PM. At the end of this service, the Gospel of John 20:19-25 is read aloud in as many languages as can be represented by those present: Greek, Slavonic, Arabic, English, Spanish, Romanian, Serbian, and whatever else your parish can offer. If you read any language, let your priest know.
As a catechumen
Ask your priest beforehand whether you should receive Holy Communion at the Paschal Liturgy. Some parishes commune catechumens at Pascha as a sign of welcome. Others follow the traditional practice of communing only the baptized. Either way, you are welcome at the service and at the Agape Feast.
Learn this before Saturday night
“Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.” This is the Paschal troparion. You will sing it dozens of times Saturday night and hundreds of times over the next forty days. Search “Christ is Risen Orthodox chant” on YouTube to learn the melody before you arrive.