Kulich (a festive sweet bread) ablaze with candles, wait for the post-Liturgy Blessing!
A History of Words: Pascha and Easter
Greeting you especially on this Blessed and Holy Pascha! The Feast of Feasts!
Past Blisswood Paschal-tide Posts
Thomas Sunday & Mothers’ Day Greetings!
More Musical Easter Eggs ~ Let Us Rejoice!
Christ is Risen! Happy Pascha!
Son Rise Paschal Song (Youth Choir)
Christ is Risen (Youth Choir)
Truly He is Risen!
Strolling through a verdant Blisswood Grove in Costa Rica~ Pura Vida!
…You know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light. ~ Romans 13:11-12
Wishing you a Blessed Clean Monday! Let us Spring Clean our souls, Grow in God’s Grace… and Bloom in His Sonshine!
As we sail across the Great Sea of the Fast may our Great Lenten Journeys be Peaceful, and Fruitful – helping us to see Christ in others, and preparing us to joyously reach those Shining Shores of Great and Holy Pascha – the Feast of Feasts… the reason why Christ was Born!
Wishing you all the Bright Joys of the Fast!
Clean Monday, Great Lent, Holy Week – Past Blisswood Posts Resource
Icon of St. Lazarus (the Four Days Dead) of Bethany
Lazarus Saturday reminds us of a greater Saturday and of a dawn that shatters all dawns. ~ Fr. Stephen Freeman
Congratulations on your baptisms today, Hamish (James) and Jacob! God grant you MANY years!
Lazarus Saturday is a special day in the Orthodox Church, and celebrates the final, great miracle of Jesus Christ before His Resurrection. Today prefigures His own death and demonstrates His Authority over death.
Seeing that His good friend is already four days dead, Jesus sheds tears at the tomb where is friend is buried, and cries out: “Lazarus, come forth!” St. Lazarus (the Four Days Dead of Bethany) – was 30 years old when he first reposed and was raised again by Christ (St. John 11:1-45). Following His glorious miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead, the people went out to meet the Lord with palms and branches. They welcomed Him with honour and shouts of praise.
After the Resurrection of Christ, St. Lazarus lived for another 30 years and became the first Bishop of Kition in Cyprus. An ancient tradition records that because of what St. Lazarus had seen in Hades before Christ raised him, St. Lazarus never smiled again – except once… when he saw someone stealing a clay pot. With an amused expression, he observed, “The clay steals the clay.”
In Orthodox countries, on Lazarus Saturday, children go house to house with decorated hand baskets, singing Lazarus Carols, and sharing Lazarakia. Sometimes coins are popped into the children’s baskets by parishioners, as a donation for the church. Some folks slip lenten treats to the children, which they take home and share with their families. It is also customary to collect wildflowers, palms, and pussy willow branches on this day to adorn homes, as tomorrow is the feast of Palm Sunday, the Day commemorating the Entrance of our Lord into Jerusalem.
Another tradition for Lazarus Saturday has caviar served on bread at the noon meal. According to the typicon, the caviar, or fish eggs symbolize the foreshadowing of the Lord’s Resurrection, one week later.
It is with bittersweet joy that we anticipate the events to come during Holy Week, as we near the end of our own Journeys to Pascha.
Lazarus was raised from the dead. Christ is risen from the dead. The difference is everything. Our hope is not in being resuscitated to our present form, but a true transformation into the Life of Resurrection. ~ Father Stephen Freeman
From the earliest times, the Church has remembered the miracle of the Raising of Lazarus, and its celebration is closely tied to the Feast of the Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Marking the end of Great Lent, Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday are a two-day festal pause, prior to Holy Week.
In Constantinople, Lazarus Saturday was one of the four ancient baptismal days of the Church. We sing the Traditional Trisagion hymn at the Divine Liturgy for this day, As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ… Reminding us that we too, through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism, have buried our old nature. By putting on Christ, we come forth reborn anew.
Lazarus Comes Forth! April 24, 2021 Post
Happy Lazarus Saturday (with the beautiful Lazarus Hymn sung in Tone 1 for Lazarus Saturday) April 27, 2024 Post
Lazarakia Bun Recipe (Traditionally baked for celebrating Lazarus Saturday and/or Palm Sunday)
Palm Sunday Greetings April 25, 2021 Post
Happy Palm Sunday April 28, 2024 Post
Past Posts from Holy Week
I remember when my nephew Andrew was seventeen years old, he said to me: “Ah!… Why don’t we have Holy Week four or five times a year? So that we may all get that into our head and assimilate everything!” Truly, Holy Week makes us meditate for hours and days… even permanently. It is something beyond this world… ~ St. Gavrilia (Ascetic of Love)
Onion Skin Pascha Egg Dye Recipe
Until we meet again… God-Willing, in Bright Week or beyond! With love in Christ.
Image by Andriy Tod at Unsplash
Let us Spring Clean our souls, Grow in God’s Grace… and Bloom in His Sonshine! May our Great Lenten Journeys be Peaceful, and Fruitful – helping us see Christ in others.
Wishing you all the Bright Joys of the Fast!
Lightfare
Daily Lenten Prayer of St. Ephraim
Great Canon of St. Andrew of Crete
Bending the Knees of the Heart
Savouring Great Lent
Beauty of Holiness
Nothing Higher on Earth
God’s Beautiful Promise in the Sky
St. Patrick Enlightener of Ireland
Skylark Buns Tradition (Baked to celebrate the Feast of the Holy 40 Martyrs of Sebaste)
Lazarakia Bun Recipe (Traditionally baked for celebrating Lazarus Saturday and/or Palm Sunday)
The Winding Sheet from Great and Holy Friday, 2023
On Holy Week: I remember that when my nephew Andrew was seventeen years old, he said to me: “Ah!… Why don’t we have Holy Week four or five times a year? So that we may all get that into our head and assimilate everything!” Truly, Holy Week makes us meditate for hours and days… even permanently. It is something beyond this world… ~ St. Gavrilia (Ascetic of Love)
Lovely to Listen To: St. Matthew’s Passion Music composed by Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, takes us through the services in Holy Week, as recorded through the Gospel of St. Matthew. Music and Scripture are poignantly entwined.
Presanctified Liturgy: This service is partly like the service on Saturday evenings and partly like the usual Liturgy. At the Presanctified Liturgy, the Holy Communion is already consecrated from a previous usual Divine Liturgy.
Great and Holy Tuesday
Hymn of St. Kassiani
The Woman Who Had Fallen Into Many Sins
On Holy Tuesday: Listening to the Hymn of Kassiani, (sung on Holy Tuesday evening and Holy Wednesday morning): O Lord, the woman who had fallen into many sins… Have we not all fallen into many sins? But how else could we have felt the Miracle of His Pardon and Love? This is why all of us, who worship the Lord, are aware that without His help, His intervention, we would be wallowing in the mud permanently. O my God, I thank You! I thank You day and night, with my eyes open or closed, with or without words, alive or dead… ~ St. Gavrilia (The Ascetic of Love)
Natural Onion Skin Brick- Red Dye for Pascha Eggs and Banquet of Faith
Do Not Lament Me O Mother One of my favourite hymns by St. Kassiani
Let us open our arms and throw ourselves in Christ’s embrace. When Christ comes, we will have gained everything. Christ will alter everything within us. He will bring peace, joy, humility, love, prayer and the uplifting of our soul. The grace of Christ will renew us. ~ Elder Porphyrios, Wounded By Love
May your cup overflow with Holy Week’s multitude of blessings!
Looking forward to greeting you again on the other side of Great and Holy Pascha! May your Bright Week be radiant!
Paschal Sermon by St. John Chrysostom (347-407) Archbishop of Constantinople
…Orthodox Pascha is not just a festival, but the Festival of all festivals, an event for exceeding all the events of this world. Pascha shakes the whole cosmos: the sun, by our faith, dances and becomes iridescent with every colour of the rainbow, and all of creation rejoices. Some observe a magnificent silence, lacking the strength to express the inexpressible feeling of Paschal joy which fills their souls. Others hasten to share their feeling of the Paschal triumph. All people and all things begin to move, the tedious vanities of this world are cast aside, and all are transfigured. Pascha is, first of all, in us ourselves, in our hearts. God’s gift of the feeling of love penetrates our whole being, and we love each person and all things. This relates not just to the animal kingdom, but to the whole of creation, extending to the smallest blade of grass and the smallest flower. Nothing escapes our loving attention. May the Lord help us all to keep ourselves like this, for as such did the Lord create us. ~ Excerpt Paschal Epistle from Metropolitan Vitaly, May, 2000; The Two Thousandth Pascha of Christ
Thank you for visiting Blisswood!
Wishing you all the Bright Joys of the Fast!
May your journey to Pascha be Peaceful and Fruitful!
Crow Rejoicing in Sakura Blossoms~ Photo shared by Veronika S.
Christ is Risen! Happy Bright Saturday!
2023 – MP3 of Parish Youth Choir Singing Paschal Tropar:
Christ is Risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs, bestowing Life!
2017 – Parish Youth and Adults Sing Christ is Risen
More Musical Easter Eggs!
Paschal Poem by St. Nikolai Velimirovich
(As Serbian Orthodox Song YouTube)
Rejoice O ye people, all nations listen:
Christ God is Risen, let us rejoice!
Dance all ye stars, O sing hills and mountains:
Christ God is Risen, let us rejoice!
Whisper ye forests and blow all ye breezes:
Christ God is Risen, let us rejoice!
Roar all ye beasts, proclaim all ye oceans:
Christ God is Risen, let us rejoice!
Buzz all ye bees, sing all ye birds:
Christ God is Risen, let us rejoice!
O little lambs, exult and be merry!
Christ God is Risen, let us rejoice!
Nightingales joyous, singeth their praises:
Christ God is Risen, let us rejoice!
Ring O ye church bells, everyone listen:
Christ God is Risen, let us rejoice!
All angels join us, singing this chorus:
Christ God is Risen, let us rejoice!
Come down O ye heavens sing with us on earth:
Christ God is Risen, let us rejoice!
Glory to Thee, O Lord God, Almighty!
Christ God is Risen, let us rejoice!
Glory, to Thee O God in the Highest:
Christ God is Risen, let us rejoice!
Hristros Voskrese Radost Donese
For God is With Us (Appalachian)
Paschal Stichera (Virtual recording during pandemic)
Christ’s Descent into Hades Icon
This icon is frequently referred to as the Anastasis or Resurrection Icon. It is an icon of Pascha (Easter).
The golden bars by Christ’s feet are the gates of Hades, which He has broken and torn apart. At Pascha, a tradition includes the cracking of our blessed Pascha eggs together. This represents how Christ shattered the gates of Hades.
There are keys floating in the abyss below, which symbolizes that he has entered and conquered both death and Hades. Some icons have a skeletal figure who is chained up: that’s Death. He has been bound and killed by Christ. All throughout Pascha-tide until the Ascension, we greet each other with, “Christ is Risen, Truly He is Risen!”
The two figures whom Christ has grasped and is pulling out of Hades are Adam and Eve, symbolizing that His Victory redeems all mankind, even back to the beginning.
This Resurrection scene is taking place in the past, present, and future.
To His left, we see three Old Testament saints: Kings David and Solomon, two of His ancestors according to his fleshly nature. We also see, closest to him St. John the Baptist, who was his Forerunner in both life and death. On the right, we have the New Testament, including the apostles who are alive. The purpose is to show that Christ’s redemption transcends time and space. This is an act that happened in the past, is happening right now, and will happen in the future. Christ is always in the state of redeeming and setting us free.
The blue shape around Christ is called the Mandorla (which is Italian for almond, which describes its shape). The Mandorla is the Uncreated, Eternal Light of Christ. In the writings of the Eastern Orthodox mystics, God is often prayerfully experienced as Light. This is not simply a beautiful bright light. It is the same Light which filled the apostles with wonder when they witnessed His Transfiguration. It is the Light which Christ Himself described as the power of the Kingdom of God (Mark 9:1, Matt. 16:28, Luke 9:27). It is also the Light that is seen when one purifies their heart and mind (Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God).
Those who seek God will find that the more they know Him, the less they comprehend Him.
To know God, to experience Him, is to walk from the darkness of sin, into His Light, to enter into the mystery of His Presence. ~ The Ark Youth Quarterly – St. Sophia Orthodox Church
May you have a glorious, and joyous, Bright Week!
Image by Dimitris Vetsikas from Pixabay
Truly He is Risen!
Image by Denis Doukhan Pixabay
Good morning! What a wonderful day the Lord has provided!
Scooting along the remainder of this Lenten Journey, I’m reminded that every Lent is uniquely different, with its own flavour of adventures and distractions.
So, I’m attempting to take a wee posting break until (God-Willing), Bright Week… and greet you now, in advance, on tomorrow’s most beautiful, shining Feast of the Annunciation!
Below, is a Ladybird’s-eye view of past Postings to take you to Pascha!
Lazarakia Buns Recipe for Lazarus Saturday
Natural Onion Skin Brick- Red Dye for Pascha Eggs
May your Lenten Journey continue in peace, and may you be filled to the brim with the blessings of Palm Sunday and Holy Week.
St. Matthew’s Passion Music composed by Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev, takes us through the services in Holy Week, as recorded through the Gospel of St. Matthew. Music and Scripture are poignantly entwined.
Great and Holy Tuesday
Hymn of St. Kassiani The Woman Who Had Fallen Into Many Sins
Great and Holy Friday
Do Not Lament Me O Mother One of my favourite hymns by St. Kassiani
I’m truly looking forward to greeting you again and “on the other side” of Great and Holy Pascha!
Let us open our arms and throw ourselves in Christ’s embrace. When Christ comes, we will have gained everything. Christ will alter everything within us. He will bring peace, joy, humility, love, prayer and the uplifting of our soul. The grace of Christ will renew us. ~ Elder Porphyrios, Wounded By Love
Here’s a short and edifying Youtube Orthodox Movie with a Trio of Good Proverbs (English Subtitles). My favourites are #2 and #3.
Thank you for visiting Blisswood!
Greetings on Forgiveness Sunday!
Great Lent begins Tomorrow.
There is nothing on earth higher, greater or more holy than the Divine Liturgy; nothing more solemn, nothing more life-giving. ~ St. John of Kronstadt
The Church is your hope, the Church is your salvation, the Church is your refuge. ~ St. John Chrysostom
May your Lenten Journey be a peaceful, fruitful preparation for the Great and Holy Feast of Pascha (Easter) – Sunday, April 24th, 2022.
