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!
An Altar’s Table of Oblation
Remember that we are called to change and be transformed. Great Lent is like a tuning fork that aligns our soul with a spiritual melody. We must strive to maintain this harmony for as long as possible, even after the Holy Forty Days have ended. ~ Metropolitan Onuphry of Ukraine
Years are not needed for true repentance, and not days – but only a single instant. ~ St. Ambrose of Optina
Wishing you all the Bright Joys of the Fast!
Looking ahead (with hope and consolation) while catching small glimpses of the coming, Shining, and Bright Paschal Dawn!
To the Journey!
Cherry Blossoms fell like tears, and clung to the under-cloth of Holy Friday’s Winding Sheet.
Christ is risen from the dead, by death, trampling down upon death, and upon those in the tombs, bestowing life! ~ Paschal Tropar
Happy BRIGHT Monday!
…the wood of the Cross hath now put forth flower ~ Ode 3 Katavasia of the Cross
Now all things have been filled with light, both heaven and earth and those beneath the earth; so let all creation sing Christ’s rising, by which it is established. ~ St. John of Damascus, Paschal Canon
Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ, let us worship the Holy Lord Jesus, the only sinless One. We worship Thy Cross, O Christ, and hymn and glorify Thy holy Resurrection, for Thou art our God, and we know none other beside Thee, we call upon Thy name. O come all ye faithful, let us worship Christ’s holy Resurrection; for behold through the Cross, joy hath come to all the world. Ever blessing the Lord, we hymn His Resurrection. For having endured crucifixion, He hath destroyed death by death. ~ 5th Century Matins Hymn
TRULY HE IS RISEN!
Thy Resurrection, O Christ our Saviour, the angels in heaven sing, enable us on earth, to glorify Thee, in purity of heart!
For our 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… ~Paschal Epistle excerpt of Metropolitan Vitaly – May, 2000; The Two Thousandth Pascha of Christ.
The Pascha of the Lord is here!
Voices of Faith Hope and Love: St. Sophia Orthodox Church Virtual Youth Choir sing *Son Rise* in 2021. This song is a Paschal Poem, written by an 8 year old youth choir student, many years ago.
Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!
Parish Youth Choir Sing Paschal Tropar
Paschal Sermon ~ St. John Chrysostom (347 – 407 AD)
Greeting you all with love and joy… Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!
Have a Radiant and Blessed Bright Week!
