This year, the monastery celebrated a very warm Pascha in all senses of the meaning. The Lord gave us unusually warm temperatures. Many pilgrims arrived at the monastery in order to celebrate the Feast of Feasts with the brethren and the seminarians. The large bell begins to be rung as the choir sings the Canon of Holy Saturday during the Midnight Office. At the end of this, the shroud is brought back into the altar and placed on the Holy Table, where it will stay all during the Paschal season.
It is our tradition to only process around the church once at the beginning of Matins. There are so many pilgrims, that as the last people are leaving church, the beginning of the procession is already at the front of the church.
Upon the commencement of the Matins and the announcement of the Lord’s Resurrection, everyone re-enters the church to the peal of all the bells. The Paschal Canon is sung by the clergy as each troparion is repeated by the choir. In order of rank, after the bishop himself, each priest censes the entire church and all the faithful. The archdeacon censes during the 9th Ode. After the completion of the canon the clergy enter the altar and carry out the traditional Paschal greeting while the choir chants the Lauds. At the completion of this, Vladyka reads the Sermon of St. John Chrysostom, in Slavonic and then in English.
The Divine Liturgy commences as usual. One outstanding feature is the chanting of the Paschal Gospel in several languages, in Greek, English, Spanish and in Church Slavonic. During the reading there is a light “perezvon” of the bells. On this holiest of nights, many of the faithful partook of the Holy Mysteries. This night there were around 250 communicants.
At the end of the Liturgy a priest is usually sent downstairs to bless the Pascha baskets. This year, Vladyka himself blessed the baskets. At this time, the general greeting of Pascha is carried out. All those present, starting with Vladyka, greet each other. Then there is a solemn procession from church to the refectory with all the bells ringing. After Vladyka blesses the tables with holy water, he reads a prayer to bless the returning to eating “normal” food. A breakfast of Pascha bread, eggs, Pascha cheese, bread, cheese, butter, milk, smoked salmon and yoghurt is enjoyed in silence.
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