The resurrection of Christ overturns ideas about life and death

Metropolitan Grigory of Vratsa, interim Chairperson of the Holy Synod, congratulates the audience of Radio Bulgaria on the bright Easter holidays

published on 5/4/24 3:25 PM

Photo: БГНЕС

Anticipated with trepidation and celebrated with great solemnity, Easter is the crown of Christ's teaching. For Christians, it is the fulfilled promise of the victory over darkness and the immortality of the human soul.

With the hope of salvation from the transitory and perishable, the Resurrection of Christ, already in the third millennium, continues to fill the hearts of believers with confidence in the power of truth and love. As every year on this day, the solemn Easter liturgy begins late in the evening of Holy Saturday, and Orthodox churches are overflowing with people of all ages:

"Pascal night, holy night! And how solemn and how beautiful is the holy liturgy of the Passover! And what profound ideas it contains!" notes Professor Ivan Denev in an article about the Easter service on the website Orthodoxy. "The canon of Great Saturday unites the sad with the joyful, the despondency with solemnity. With it, the Sabbath service actually ends and the Easter service begins. The canon describes the state of humanity, when one part of it, in the person of the righteous of the Old Testament, celebrates the victory of the Savior over death and hell, and another part - in the person of the apostles and disciples of Christ, still in deep despondency and sorrow."

Filled with the fragrance of incense, reminiscent of the myrrh-bearing women who first welcomed the news of the Resurrection, the temples symbolically plunge into darkness shortly before midnight. When the hour approaches, the priests go outside with lighted candles and exactly at midnight announce the Bright Resurrection of Christ with the words:

"Come, receive light from the unfading Light, and glorify Christ who rose from the dead."

At the exclamation of the priest leading the service, "Christ is risen!", the bells begin to ring solemnly and the laity respond to the greeting with "He is risen indeed!" Shortly after the christening (the exchange of greetings for the Resurrection), a large part of the crowd disperses so that the churchgoers from the parish remain.

The most solemn and beautiful is the Easter liturgy in the Patriarchal Cathedral "St. Alexander Nevsky", where every year the service is led by the Bulgarian Patriarch.

However, for the first time in our recent history, we welcome the brightest Christian holiday without a patriarch. His Holiness Neophyte departed from this earthly abode several days before the start of the Great Lent and Metropolitan Grigoriy of Vratsa was temporarily elected chairman of the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and Vicar of the Sofia Diocese.

On the eve of the most revered Christian holiday, Easter, His Eminence addressed the large audience of Radio Bulgaria with the words:

"I wish everyone a truly worthy welcome to the Feast of all Feasts - Pascha or Easter! This is the Resurrection of Christ - the Resurrection that turned the world upside down and introduced many people to what follows after death. Our Lord Jesus Christ rose sovereignly from the dead, defeated death and bestowed eternal life upon us all. It is truly the Feast of Feasts, the greatest joy of all men. Let us truly make sense of what is happening on this day. Only then shall we know how to celebrate. Let us not celebrate at richly-laid tables, but let's celebrate with spiritual joy! Let's rejoice and glorify God for this great mercy for us humans!" noted Metropolitan Grigoriy especially for Radio Bulgaria.

The Easter morning liturgy ends with the "Word of St. John Chrysostom", in which all "fasting and non-fasting" are called to God's table to "embrace the love of Christ" through communion. After the service, the laity exchange red-dyed eggs - a symbol of the Resurrection, and kozunatzi (special Easter loaves).