Eastern Christianity

Eastern Christianity

Easter Procession in the Region of Kursk, Russia, painting by Ilya Repin (1880-83), depicting a Bright Week Crucession

Pascha is the fundamental and most important festival of the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches:

        This is the Expected and Holy Day,

        the One among the Sabbaths,

        the Sovereign and Lady of days,

        Feast of feasts, Celebration of celebrations,

        on which we praise Christ for all eternity!

Every other religious festival on their calendars, including Christmas, is secondary in importance to the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is reflected in rich Paschal customs in the cultures of countries that have traditionally had an Orthodox Christian majority. Eastern Catholics have similar emphasis in their calendars, and many of their liturgical customs are very similar. This is not to say that Christmas and other elements of the Christian liturgical calendar are ignored. Instead, these events are all seen as necessary but preliminary to, and illuminated by, the full climax of the Resurrection, in which all that has come before reaches fulfilment and fruition. They shine only in the light of the Resurrection. Pascha (Easter) is the primary act that fulfills the purpose of Christ's ministry on earth—to defeat death by dying and to purify and exalt humanity by voluntarily assuming and overcoming human frailty. This is succinctly summarized by the Paschal troparion, sung repeatedly during Pascha until the Apodosis of Pascha, which is the day before Ascension: