PASCHA IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

PASCHA

IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

Holy Pascha! 

Glorious Pascha! 

Delightful Pascha 

Pascha of the Faithful!

    Pascha with its beauty and divine majesty is not clearly visible to those who neglected to accompany Christ as He suffered in His voluntary passion and crucifixion during the days of Holy Week. However, both those who fasted and followed His passion, and those who ignored His Passion are invited to share and celebrate this day, entering into the joy of His Resurrection!  In the Resurrection  everyone is forgiven everything, and Pascha is a new beginning to avoid being shut out of the kingdom of heaven. The celebration of Pascha surpasses every other celebration, for by it every  man can return to Paradise, which was  lost by our foreparents and our own sins.

Concerning the Paschal Canon

   In the service books used in the Greek Archdiocese for Holy Week most of the Paschal Canon is missing, and so is not used in the churches,  resulting in a loss for believers who kept the fast and looked forward to the glorious celebration of Holy Pascha. The Canon of Pascha, begins with: “It is the day of Resurrection, let us be radiant O people.” This service is complete and is derived from the official Church book: the Pentecostarion.  Divided into nine odes, only the first one of each Ode is in the Holy Week books, which is a great loss of beautiful hymns for the faithful. We are publishing them here in their entirety as in the Pentecostarion. It is uplifting to the soul to use this entire Resurrection Canon during the forty days after Pascha! Each Ode is followed by:  “Christ is risen . . .”  and  “Jesus having risen . . .” 

THE RESURRECTION CANON:

ODE 1

     It is the day of Resurrection; let us be radiant O people! It is the Pascha, Pascha of the Lord. From death to life, from earth to heaven, Christ our God has brought us over, who sing the song of victory!

     Let us purify our senses and we shall see Christ, radiant with the unaccessible light of the Resurrection, and shall clearly hear Him say Rejoice, we who sing the song of victory.

     Let the heaven rejoice in a worthy manner and let the earth be glad;  let the whole world, visible and invisible keep the Feast, for Christ our eternal joy is risen!

     It is the day of Resurrection; let us be radiant O people! It is the Pascha, Pascha of the Lord. From death to life, from earth to heaven, Christ our God has brought us over, who sing the song of victory!

     Christ is risen from the dead trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs He has bestowed life. (3x).

Jesus having risen from the tomb as He foretold, has granted us eternal life and the great mercy.

ODE 2

     Come let us drink a new drink, not wondrously brought forth from a barren rock, but the Source of incorruption which springs forth from the tomb of Christ, in whom we are established.

     Now all things have been filled with light, heaven and earth and the  regions below and  so let all creation sing Christ’s rising, in whom we are is established.

     Yesterday, O Christ, I was buried with you,  today I rise with you with your arising.  Yesterday I was crucified with you; glorify me with you, Savior in your Kingdom. 

     Come let us drink a new drink, not wondrously brought forth from a barren rock, but the source of incorruption which pours out from the tomb of Christ, in whom we are established

     Christ is risen from the dead trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs He has bestowed life. (3x).

Jesus having risen from the tomb as He foretold, has granted us eternal life and the great mercy.

ODE 4

     May the divinely speaking Habakkuk  stand with us on divine watch, and bring to light a radiant angel, who brilliantly declares: Today salvation has come into the world, for Christ has risen as all powerful.

     Christ revealed himself as a male when  He opened the Virgin’s womb.; and as a mortal he was  called the Lamb; unblemished also is our  Pascha; He tasted no defilement and as true God He is called perfect. 

    Christ our blessed Crown like a yearling lamb, of His own will was sacrificed for all, a Pascha of purification; and as the glorious Sun of Justice, He has shone upon us again from the tomb.

     David the father of our Divine Lord, leaped and danced before the symbolic Ark, Let us also, the holy people of God, beholding fulfillment of the symbols be divinely glad, for Christ has risen as all powerful. 

     May the divinely speaking Prophet Habakkuk  stand with us on divine watch, and bring to light a radiant angel, who brilliantly declares: Today salvation has come into the world, for Christ has risen as all powerful

     Christ is risen from the dead trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs He has bestowed life. (3x).

Jesus having risen from the tomb as He foretold, has granted us eternal life and the great mercy.

ODE 5

     Let us arise in deep dawn and instead of myrrh, offer a hymn to the Master, and we shall behold Christ, the Sun of Justice, who causes life to dawn on all.

     When they who were held by the chains of Hades, beheld your boundless compassion, O Christ, they hastened to the light with joyful feet, exalting the eternal Pascha.

     Carrying lamps, let us go forth to meet Christ, who comes forth from the tomb like a Bridegroom; And with the feast-loving ranks of angels let us celebrate the saving Pascha of God.

     Christ is risen from the dead trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs He has bestowed life. (3x).

Jesus having risen from the tomb as He foretold, has granted us eternal life and the great mercy.

ODE 6

     You did descend to the deepest parts of the earth, O Christ, and did shatter the ancient bars which held the prisoners captive; and like Jonas from the sea monster, you did rise after three days from the tomb

     Having kept the seals intact, you did rise from the tomb, O Christ, who did not violate the Virgin’s womb by your birth, and did open to us the gates of Paradise.

     O my Savior, while as God you did willingly offer yourself to the Father as a lifegiving Sacrifice; you did raise up Adam, the father of our race, when you arose from the tomb.

     Christ is risen from the dead trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs He has bestowed life. (3x).

Jesus having risen from the tomb as He foretold, has granted us eternal life and the great mercy.

KONTAKION

     Though you did descend into the tomb, O Immortal one, yet did you destroy the power of Hades, and did rise as conqueror, O Christ God, saying to the myrrhbearing women, Rejoice!  Granting peace to your Apostles and resurrection to the fallen.

OIKOS

    Before the dawn the Myrrhbearers  sought as the day, the Sun, who was before the sun, and who had set in the tomb. And they cried to one another: Friends, come let us anoint with aromatic spices His lifegiving and buried body,  the flesh which raised up fallen Adam, and now lies in the tomb. Let us go! Let us hasten, and like the Magi, let us adore, and let us offer myrrh as a gift to Him who is wrapped not now, in swaddling clothes, but in a shroud.  And let us weep and cry: Arise O Lord, who offers resurrection to the fallen.

THE SYNAXARION OF THE MENAION

     On this, the holy and greatest Lord’s Day of Pascha, we celebrate the life-bringing Resurrection of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ.

VERSES

(Verse) Christ going down alone to the struggle with Hades.

     Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ, let us worship the holy Lord Jesus, the only sinless One. We worship your Cross. O Christ, and your holy Resurrection we praise and glorify; for you are our God, and we know no other than you; we call upon your name. Come all you faithful, let us worship Christ’s holy Resurrection. For behold, through the Cross joy has come into the world.  Ever blessing the Lord, let us praise His Resurrection. By enduring the Cross for us, He has destroyed death by death.  (Three times)

(Verse) Came forth again and brought with Him plentiful spoils of victory.

     Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ . . . 

(Verse) To Him be glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen.

     Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ . . .

 Jesus, having risen from the tomb as He foretold, has granted us eternal life and the great mercy.  (Three times after each reading))

ODE 7

     He who delivered the youths from the furnace, and became man, suffers as a mortal, and through suffering clothes mortality with the beauty of incorruption, is the only blessed and most glorious God of our Fathers.

     The Godly minded women ran after you with myrrh. But Him whom they sought with tears as mortal, they joyfully adored as the Living God. And they told your disciples, O Christ, the glad tidings of the mystical Pascha.

     We celebrate the death of death, the destruction of Hades, the beginning of another everlasting life. And dancing for joy, we hymn the Cause, the only blessed and most glorious God of our fathers.

    For truly holy and worthy of all triumphant celebration is this redeeming and radiant night, the harbinger of the bright day of Resurrection, on which the Eternal Light shone bodily from the tomb upon all.

     Christ is risen from the dead trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs He has bestowed life. (3x).

Jesus having risen from the tomb as He foretold, has granted us eternal life and the great mercy.

ODE 8 

Irmos 

     This chosen and holy day is the first of Sabbaths, the Sovereign and Queen, the Feast of feasts and the Festival of festivals on which we bless Christ unto the ages.

     Come let us partake of  new fruit of the vine  in divine joy, and in the kingdom of Christ, on the auspicious day of the Resurrection,  praising Him as God unto the ages. 

     Lift your eyes around you, Sion, and see. For behold, Your children come to you from the west and from the north, and from the sea and from the east, as to a beacon lightened by God, blessing Christ in you forever.

     Like beacons shedding light divine your children have come to you, from west and north, from the Sea and from the east, blessing Christ in you unto the ages.

     Father Almighty, Logos and Spirit, one Nature in three Hypostases united, transcending  essence and supremely divine! Into you have we been baptized and you shall we bless unto the ages.

     Christ is risen from the dead trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs He has bestowed life. (3x).

Jesus having risen from the tomb as He foretold, has granted us eternal life and the great mercy.

ODE 9 

Irmos 

Megalynarion

     Magnify, my soul, Him who willingly suffered and was buried, and rose from the tomb on the third day.

     Shine, shine, O New Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord has  risen upon you. Dance now and be glad, O Sion, and you pure Theotokos, rejoice, in the rising of your Son. 

    Magnify, my soul, Him who willingly suffered and was buried, and rose from the tomb on the third day.

     Shine, shine, O New Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord has  risen upon you. Dance now and be glad, O Sion, and you pure Theotokos, rejoice, in the rising of your Son. 

      Christ is the new Pascha, the living Sacrifice, the Lamb of God, that uplifts the sins of the world.

     O divine! O beloved! O sweetest voice!  For you have faithfully promised to be with us to the close of the age, holding fast this promise as an anchor of hope, we the  faithful rejoice!

    Today the whole creation is glad and rejoices, for Christ is risen, and Hades has been despoiled.

     O divine! O beloved! O sweetest voice!  For you have faithfully promised to be with us to the close of the age, holding fast this promise as an anchor of hope, we the  faithful rejoice!

Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

     Magnify O my soul, the dominion of the Undivided Godhead of Three Hypostases.

     Great and most holy Pascha, Christ! O Wisdom Logos and Power of  God!  Grant that we may more perfectly partake of you unending Day of your Kingdom.

Now and for ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Megalynarion

     Rejoice, O Virgin, rejoice! Rejoice, blessed one! Rejoice,  
glorious one! For your  Son has risen from the tomb on the third day.

Troparion

     Great and most holy Pascha, Christ! Wisdom, Logos and Power of God! Grant that we may more perfectly  partake of you in the unending day of your Kingdom. 

Megalynarion

     The Angel cried to the Full of Grace: Rejoice, pure Virgin,  again I say, Rejoice! Your Son has risen on the third day from the tomb, and has raised the dead.  Rejoice, you people! 

Katavasia

     Shine, shine,  New Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Dance now  and be glad, O Sion! And you, pure Theotokos, rejoice in the rising of your Child. 

Christ is risen from the dead,  trampling on death by death, and on those in the tombs bestowing life. (3x)

Jesus having risen from the tomb as He foretold, has granted us eternal life and the great mercy.

Megalynarion     

     Magnify,  my soul, Him who suffered willingly, and was buried, and rose from the tomb on the third day. 

Eirmos: 

     Shine, shine,  New Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Dance now and be glad, O Sion! And you, pure Theotokos, rejoice in the rising of your Child. 

Megalynarion

     Magnify,  my soul, Him who suffered willingly, was buried, and rose from the tomb on the third day.

Eirmos: 

     Shine, shine, New Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Dance now and be glad, O Sion! And you, pure Theotokos, rejoice in the rising of your Child. 

Megalynarion

     Magnify,  my soul, Christ the Lifegiver, who arose from the tomb on the third day.  

Eirmos, 

     Shine, shine,  New Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Dance now  and be glad, O Sion! And you, pure Theotokos, rejoice in the rising of your Child. 

Megalynarion

     Christ is new Pascha, the living Sacrifice, the Lamb of God, who lifts away the sins of the world.

Eirmos: 

     Shine, shine, New Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Dance now  and be glad, O Sion! And you, pure Theotokos, rejoice in the rising of your Child. 

Megalynarion

    The angel cried to the Full of Grace: Rejoice pure Virgin, rejoice, again I say, rejoice for your Son is risen from the tomb on the third day. 

Megalynarion

     Mary Magdalene ran to the sepulcher, and seeing Christ she questioned him as though He was the gardener. 

Troparion: 

      O Divine, O beloved, O sweetest voice, for you Christ have truthfully promised to be with us to the close of the age.  Holding fast this promise as an anchor of hope, we the faithful rejoice. 

Megalynarion       

     A radiant angel cried unto the women: Cease your tears, for Christ is risen and Hades has been despoiled. 

Troparion: 

    O divine, O beloved, O sweetest voice, for you  Christ have truthfully promised to be with us to the close of the age.  Holding fast this promise as an anchor of hope, we the faithful rejoice. 

Megalynarion

     Roaring royally as the lion of Judah, having slept; You have   awakened the dead of all ages. 

Troparion:

      O divine, O beloved, O sweetest voice, for you Christ have truthfully promised to be with us to the close of the age.  Holding fast this promise as an anchor of hope, we the faithful rejoice. 

Megalynarion

     Be glad you people, for Christ is risen, trampling down death and raising the dead. 

     Great and most holy Pascha, Christ!  Wisdom, Logos and Power of God! Grant that we may more perfectly  partake of you in the unending day of your Kingdom. 

Megalynarion

     Today the whole creation is glad and rejoices, for Christ is risen and Hades has been despoiled. 

     Great and most holy Pascha, Christ! Wisdom, Logos and Power of God! Grant that we may more perfectly  partake of you in the unending day of your Kingdom.

     Today the Master despoiled Hades and raised those who from the ages were held in bitter bondage.

     Great and most holy Pascha, Christ! Wisdom, Logos and Power of God! Grant that we may more perfectly  partake of you in the unending day of your Kingdom. 

Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit;

Megalynarion

     Magnify, my soul the power of the Undivided and tri-hypostatic Godhead.

     Great and most holy Pascha, Christ! Wisdom, Logos and Power of God! Grant that we may more perfectly  partake of you in the unending day of your Kingdom.

Now and for ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Megalynarion

    Rejoice  Virgin, rejoice, rejoice  blessed one, rejoice most glorious one, for your Son has risen from the tomb on the third day.  

Eirmos:

     Shine, shine, new Jerusalem , for the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Dance now and be glad, O Sion, and you pure Theotokos rejoice in the rising of your Child.

Exapostilarion   

Tone Second

     Having slept in the flesh as a mortal,  King and Lord, You did rise on the third day. You did raise up Adam from corruption and abolish death, Pascha of incorruption, salvation of the world! 

PRAISES      

Tone One

     Let every breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the highest; to you, O God praise is due.

       Praise him, all you his angels; praise him, all you his powers. To you, O God praise is due.

    Praise Him for His mighty acts, praise Him for the greatness of His majesty. 

     We praise, O Christ, your saving Passion, and glorify your Resurrection. 

   Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet, praise Him with psaltery and harp. 

     You who did endure the Cross, abolish death, and rise from the dead, give us peace in our life, Lord, for you alone art all-powerful. 

 Praise Him with timbrel and dance, praise Him with strings and pipe. 

      You who spoiled Hades and raised up man by your Resurrection, O Christ, make us worthy with pure hearts to praise and glorify You. 

   Praise Him with tuneful cymbals,  praise Him with cymbals of victory. Let every breath praise the Lord. 

      We glorify your divine condescension, and praise you, O Christ. You were born from the Virgin and did remain inseparably with the Father. You did suffer as man, and did voluntarily endure the Cross. You did rise from the tomb, coming forth from it as from a bridal chamber, in order to save the world.  Lord, glory to You. 

THE STICHERA OF PASCHA 

WITH THEIR VERSES

Tone First Plagal

     Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered, let them who hate Him flee from before His face. 

     A sacred  Pascha  has today has shown to us, a new and holy Pascha, a mystical Pascha, an all-venerable Pascha, a Pascha which is Christ the Redeemer, a spotless Pascha, a great Pascha, Pascha of the faithful, a Pascha which has opened to us the gates of Paradise, a Pascha that sanctifies all the faithful. 

    As smoke vanishes, let them vanish, as wax melts from the presence of fire. 

   Come from that scene,  women, bearers of good tidings, and say to Sion: Receive from us the glad tidings of joy of the Resurrection of Christ. Exult, rejoice and be glad, Jerusalem, beholding Christ the King as a Bridegroom come forth from the tomb. 

    So let sinners perish from the presence of God, but let the just rejoice. 

     The myrrh-bearing women at deep dawn went to the tomb of the Lifegiver,  and they found an Angel sitting on a stone, who spoke to them and said: Why seek the Living among the dead? Why mourn the Incorruptible amid corruption? Go and proclaim it to His disciples. 

  This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

     The Pascha of delight, the Pascha of the Lord, the Pascha, the all-venerable Pascha has dawned upon us, the Pascha on which let us embrace one another with joy! Pascha, ransom from sorrow! For today Christ shone forth from the tomb as from a bridal chamber and filled the women with joy, saying: tell the Apostles.

Tone First Plagal

Glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen. 

     It is the day of Resurrection, let us be radiant for the Festival; let us embrace one another. Let us speak also brethren to those who hate us, and in the Resurrection let us forgive everything and so let us cry:

 Christ is risen from the dead trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowing life (3X).

****************

    In the same way that the Great Fast is not meant to be just about food, but to help and encourage us to acquire continuous repentance, and with sympathy to experience in the depths of our hearts the suffering  of Christ.

     The same applies to glorious Pascha, the  Feast of feasts, and Festival of festivals;  it is not about breaking the Fast and eating whatever we please.  It concerns the only Feast of feasts,  for it is about the Godman Jesus Christ who humbled himself and endured terrible sufferings and the great sacrifice of  His willing death on the Cross. It is about finding the empty tomb, to the amazement and delight of the women  myrrhbearers and the disciples. It is about the total joywhen Jesus the Conqueror of death greeted those whom He loved and who loved Him.  

     We rejoice in His glorious  Resurrection because in it we see our own  eventual resurrection. If this were not so, there would be sadness, not rejoicing.  We know, that as Christ rose from the dead, we too shall rise, if we walk in the newness of life in Christ. St. Paul confirms this saying: “For if we have been united with Him (Baptism) in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like his . . .”  

     One of the purposes of Christ’s life on earth, was to teach us how we must conduct our lives and what our goal is in this present life. We are the body of Christ, and though we remain individuals, we need to mutually acquire the same mind and heart, learning to love what He loves and hate what He hates, that we may become an image of Christ.

     What do we see in the Resurrection?  Before the Crucifixion, Pilate crying out to the Jews: “Behold the man!”  Concerning Him, they cried:  “Away with Him. Crucify Him!” Pilate is gone and those Jews are gone, but we see in the Resurrection not the man , but the Godman, risen from the dead!

     What do we see in the Resurrection? Jesus Christ as the ultimate plan of God and the perfect example for all men. Fools claim that there is no Creator of the world, no final judgment, and what do they offer for a substitute to truth?  The morbid idea that man’s ultimate goal is to just die and rot in the ground. 

     But we see Christ resurrected from the dead after putting death to death and as our Benefactor who bestows life on all. We enter into the joy of Christ’s Resurrection just as we entered the grief and sorrow of His suffering, because it is real and concerns the hoped for crown of victory. Christ is risen!