What does Orthodox Easter mean? Easter: holiday history and traditions
Very soon, among the Orthodox believers, a joyful greeting “Christ is risen!” - and the answer is "Truly risen!". Despite the fact that this greeting is heard so often, people often associate the Easter holiday only with painted eggs and Easter cakes. In fact, the emergence of Easter has a long and interesting history, and the events of the establishment of the holiday are not a matter of one day, but of many centuries!
The history of Easter goes back in time...
The feast of Passover itself was first celebrated by the Jews, but it had a completely different meaning than we now understand. Passover, or rather Pesach, as it sounds in Hebrew, recalls the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, where they were slaves, under the leadership of the prophet Moses. This event took place around the XV-XIII centuries. BC.
The event was so significant for the history of the Jewish people that the celebrations lasted not one or two days, but ... a whole week! Even now, Jews annually begin to celebrate Easter on the 14th day of the month of Nisan - moreover, this day can fall on any day of the week, and not necessarily on Sunday. The ancient Jews called Nisan the period that covers part of March and the first half of April.
By the way, the Jews celebrated Easter not at all with eggs and Easter cakes, but with the use of lamb meat, matzah (unleavened bread cakes) and bitter herbs. The holiday was considered among the Jews one of the most important - after all, it was the day of liberation from slavery.
Since the events associated with the Resurrection of Jesus Christ fell just at the time of the celebration of the Jewish Easter, and the first Christians were, as you know, immigrants from the Jewish people, the holiday very soon took root among Christians, but here it acquired a completely different meaning.
The Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ began to occupy the central place in the celebration. By the way, it is precisely because of this event that the last day of the week is named, which, however, according to the church calendar, is not the last at all, but ... the first: i.e. Church week starts on Sunday.
Initially, Jewish and Christian Easter always coincided - this was the case in the 1st century BC. AD, later some groups of believers began to celebrate it at a different time. As Christianity spread, more and more questions arose about the exact day of the celebration of Easter - scientists insisted that it was necessary to establish a single day when all believers could celebrate at the same time. For the first time such a question was seriously raised in 325 AD. at the First Ecumenical Council, which was held in Nicea (modern Iznik, Turkey), where bishops from various countries gathered. It was decided that the closest Sunday after the vernal equinox should be chosen as the day of Easter.
What now?
Despite the fact that later, due to the difference in calendars, Easter in different denominations began to be celebrated at different times, all believers pay equal importance to the three days immediately before Easter Sunday. So,
- Maundy Thursday is considered the day of the establishment of the sacrament of the Eucharist (i.e. Communion). On this day, the Last Supper took place and Christ washed the feet of the apostles, which later became a popular theme for the works of artists, sculptors, writers and composers.
- Good Friday The day Christ was sentenced to death on the cross. The Gospel says that the Crucifixion happened (in terms of modern time calculation) at 15 o'clock in the afternoon.
- Holy Saturday- the day of Christ's stay in the tomb and descent into hell.
These days, Christians around the world observe strict fasting in preparation for the celebration.
Establishing the Easter holiday was a matter of life for many people, among whom were numerous theologians and even the rulers of entire states.
Easter of Christ. How many days are celebrated?Easter- the most important and solemn Christian holiday. It takes place every year at a different time and refers to mobile holidays. Other movable holidays also depend on the day of Easter, such as:, (Pentecost) and others. The celebration of Easter is the longest: for 40 days, believers greet each other with the words " Christ is Risen!» - « Truly Risen! The Day of the Bright Resurrection of Christ for Christians is a time of special celebration and spiritual joy, when believers gather for services to glorify the risen Christ, and the whole Easter week is celebrated " like one day". The church service throughout the week almost completely repeats the nightly Easter service.
The Passover Event: An Excerpt from the Gospel
christian holiday of easter- this is a solemn remembrance of the Resurrection of the Lord on the third day after His suffering and death. The very moment of the Resurrection is not described in the Gospel, because no one saw how it happened. The descent from the Cross and the burial of the Lord took place on Friday evening. Since Saturday was a day of rest for the Jews, the women who accompanied the Lord and the disciples from Galilee, who were witnesses of His suffering and death, came to the Holy Sepulcher only a day later, at the dawn of that day, which we now call Sunday. They carried incense, which, according to the custom of that time, was poured over the body of a dead person.
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and another Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for the Angel of the Lord, who descended from heaven, approached, rolled away the stone from the door of the tomb and sat on it; his appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow; fearful of him, the guards trembled and became like dead men; The angel, turning his speech to the women, said: do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus crucified; He is not here - He is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay, and go quickly, tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead and is ahead of you in Galilee; you will see him there. Here, I told you.
And coming out of the tomb hastily, they ran with fear and great joy to tell His disciples. When they went to tell His disciples, and behold Jesus met them and said: Rejoice! And they, coming forward, took hold of His feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus said to them: Do not be afraid; go tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see me” (Matthew 28:1-10).
Easter celebration in history. Why is Sunday called Sunday?
From the Christian holiday of Easter comes the modern name of the day of the week - Sunday. Every Sunday of the week throughout the year, Christians especially celebrate with prayer and a solemn service in the temple. Sunday is also called little Easter". Sunday is called Sunday in honor of the resurrected on the third day after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. And although Christians remember the Resurrection of the Lord weekly, this event is especially solemnly celebrated once a year - on the feast of Easter.
In the first centuries of Christianity there was a division into easter godmother And Sunday Easter. Mentions of this are contained in the works of the early Church Fathers: the epistle of St. Irenaeus of Lyons(c. 130–202) to the bishop of Rome Victor, « A word about Easter» saint Meliton of Sardis(early II century - c. 190), the works of the saint Clement of Alexandria(c. 150 - c. 215) and Pope Hippolytus (c. 170 - c. 235). Easter godmother- the memory of the suffering and death of the Savior was celebrated with a special fast and coincided with the Jewish Passover in memory of the fact that the Lord was crucified during this Old Testament holiday. The first Christians prayed and strictly fasted until Easter Sunday - a joyful remembrance of the Resurrection of Christ.
At present, there is no division into Easter of the Cross and Sunday, although the content has been preserved in the liturgical Rule: the strict and mournful services of the Great Thursday, Friday and Saturday end with a joyful and jubilant Easter service. Actually, the Easter night service itself begins with a mournful midnight office, on which the canon of Great Saturday is read. At this time, in the middle of the temple there is still a lectern with a Shroud - an embroidered or painted icon depicting the position of the Lord in the tomb.
What is the date of Easter for the Orthodox?
The early Christian communities celebrated Easter at different times. Some together with the Jews, as Blessed Jerome writes, others - the first Sunday after the Jews since Christ was crucified on the day Passover and rose again the morning after the Sabbath. Gradually, the difference in the Easter traditions of the local Churches became more and more noticeable, the so-called " easter dispute» between the Eastern and Western Christian communities, there was a threat to the unity of the Church. On, called by the emperor Constantine in 325 in Nicaea, the question of a single celebration of Easter for all was considered. According to church historian Eusebius of Caesarea, all the bishops not only accepted the Creed, but also agreed to celebrate Easter for everyone on the same day:
For the consonant confession of the Faith, the saving celebration of Pascha had to be celebrated by everyone at the same time. Therefore, a general resolution was made and approved by the signature of each of those present. Having finished these things, the basileus (Constantine the Great) said that he had now won a second victory over the enemy of the Church, and therefore made a victorious feast dedicated to God.
Since that time, all local Churches began to celebrate Easter the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox. If Jewish Easter falls on this Sunday, then Christians postpone the celebration to the next Sunday, because even in, according to the 7th rule, Christians are forbidden to celebrate Easter with Jews.
How to calculate the date of Easter?
To calculate Easter, you need to know not only the solar (equinox), but also the lunar calendar (full moon). Since the best experts on the lunar and solar calendar lived at that time in Egypt, the honor of calculating the Orthodox Paschalia was given Bishop of Alexandria. He was to inform all the local Churches annually about the day of Pascha. Over time it was created Paschalia for 532 years. It is based on the periodicity of the Julian calendar, in which the calendar indicators for calculating Easter - the circle of the Sun (28 years) and the circle of the Moon (19 years) - repeat after 532 years. This period is called great indiction". The beginning of the first "great indiction" coincides with the beginning of the era " from the creation of the world". The current, 15th great indiction, began in 1941. In Rus', Easter tables were included in the liturgical books, for example, the Followed Psalter. Several manuscripts of the 17th-17th centuries are also known. entitled " Great Peace Circle". They contain not only Paschalia for 532 years, but also tables for calculating the date of Easter by hand, the so-called Five-Fingered Paschalia or " hand of Damascus».
It is worth noting that in the Old Believers, knowledge has been preserved to this day, how to calculate the date of easter by hand, any mobile holiday, the ability to determine what day of the week a particular holiday falls on, the duration of Peter's fast and other important information necessary for the celebration of worship.
Orthodox Easter service
Throughout the Holy Week preceding Easter, each of which is called Great, Orthodox Christians celebrate the Passion of Christ, the last days of the Savior's earthly life, His suffering, crucifixion, death on the Cross, burial, descent into hell and Resurrection. For Christians, this is a particularly revered week, a time of especially strict fasting, preparation for the meeting of the main Christian holiday.
Before the start of the festive service, the Acts of the Apostles are read in the temple. Easter service, as in ancient times, takes place at night. The service begins two hours before midnight with Sunday Midnight Office, during which the canon of Great Saturday is read. sea wave". On the 9th ode of the canon, when the irmos is sung " Don't cry for me, Mother”, after incense, the Shroud is taken to the altar. Among the Old Believers-bezpriests, after the third song of the canon and the saddle, the word is read Epiphanius of Cyprus « What is the silence».
After the Midnight Office, preparations for the procession begin. The clergy in brilliant robes, with a cross, the Gospel and icons, leave the temple, followed by those praying with burning candles; three times they go around the temple salting (according to the sun, clockwise) with the singing of stichera: “ Your Resurrection, Christ the Savior, the angels sing in heaven, and grant us on earth with pure hearts to glorify you". This procession is reminiscent of the procession of myrrh-bearing women to the tomb in the deep morning to anoint the Body of Jesus Christ. The procession stops at the western doors, which are sometimes closed: this reminds again of the myrrh-bearing women who received the first news of the Lord's resurrection at the door of the tomb. “Who will roll away the stone from the tomb for us?” they wonder.
Procession for Easter at the Old Believers The priest, after shaking the icons and those present, begins the bright matins with an exclamation: "Glory to the Saints, and to the Consubstantial, and Life-Giving, and Inseparable Trinity." The temple is illuminated by many lamps. Priests and clergymen sing three times troparion holiday:
X rt0s resurrected and 3 dead death come to death 2 and 3 grave life gifts.
After this, the chanters repeatedly repeat the troparion when the priest proclaims the verses: “Let God rise again” and others. Then the clergyman with a cross in his hands, depicting an angel who rolled away a stone from the doors of the tomb, opens the closed doors of the temple and all the believers enter the temple. Further, after the great litany, the Paschal canon is sung in a solemn and jubilant chant: Sunday day”, compiled St. John of Damascus. The troparions of the Paschal canon are not read, but are sung with the refrain: "Christ is risen from the dead." During the singing of the canon, the priest, holding the cross in his hands, incenses the holy icons and the people at each song, greeting them with a joyful exclamation: “ Christ is Risen". The people answer: Truly Risen". The repeated exit of the priest with censing and greeting "Christ is Risen" depicts the repeated appearances of the Lord to his disciples and their joy at the sight of Him. After each song of the canon, a small litany is pronounced. At the end of the canon, the following morning light is sung:
P0tіyu ўsnyv ћkw is dead, tsri and 3 gd, three days is wax, and 3 dama raises 1g and 3z8 aphids2, and 3 celebrates death. Easter imperishable, world salvation.
(Translation: King and Lord! Asleep in the flesh like a dead man, You rose three days old, raising Adam from the death and destroying death; You are the Easter of immortality, the salvation of the world).
Then laudatory psalms are read and stichera are sung in praise. They are joined by Easter hymns with the refrain: "May God rise again and scatter against Him." After that, while singing the troparion "Christ is risen", the believers give each other a fraternal kiss, i.e. “They are Christed”, with a joyful greeting: “Christ is Risen” - “Truly Risen”. After singing the Easter stichera, there is a reading of the words of St. John Chrysostom: Whoever is pious and God-loving". Then the litanies are pronounced and the dismissal of Matins follows, which the priest performs with a cross in his hand, proclaiming: "Christ is risen." Next, the Easter Hours are sung, which consist of Easter hymns. At the end of the Easter hours, the Easter Liturgy is performed. Instead of the Trisagion, at the Paschal liturgy, “They are baptized into Christ, put on Christ. Alleluia." The apostle is read from the Acts of St. apostles (Acts 1, 1-8), the Gospel is read from John (1, 1-17), which speaks of the incarnation of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, called in the Gospel "the Word". In some parishes of Old Believers-priests there is an interesting custom - at the Easter Liturgy, the Gospel is read simultaneously by several clergy and even in several languages (repeating each verse of the Gospel several times). So, in some Lipovan parishes they read in Church Slavonic and Romanian, in Russia - in Church Slavonic and Greek. Some parishioners recall that Vladyka (Lakomkin) read the Gospel in Greek on Easter.
A distinctive feature of the Easter service: it is all sung. Temples at this time are brightly lit with candles, which the worshipers hold in their hands and place in front of the icons. Blessing after the liturgy "brashen", i.e. cheese, meat and eggs, is given to believers permission from fasting.
In the evening, Easter Vespers are served. Its feature is the following. The rector puts on all the sacred clothes and, after the evening entrance with the Gospel, reads the Gospel on the throne, which tells about the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Apostles in the evening on the day of His resurrection from the dead (John XX, 19-23). Divine service on the first day of St. Pascha is repeated throughout the entire Paschal week, with the exception of the Gospel reading at Vespers. For 40 days, before the feast, Paschal troparia, stichera and canons are sung during the service. Prayer to the Holy Spirit: "To the King of Heaven" is not read or sung until the feast.
Kontakion for the holiday:
More and 3 in the coffin of deathless death, but destroying the power of the year, and 3 resurrected ћkw victor xrte b9e. proclaiming joy to the wives of the mrwn0sits, and 3 their 1m ёpclwm world gifts, and 4 the fallen ones were given resurrection.
(Translation: Although You, Immortal, descended into the tomb, but destroyed the power of hell and, as the Conqueror, resurrected, Christ God, saying to the myrrh-bearing women: "Rejoice." You gave peace to your apostles, you give resurrection to the fallen).
In the incoming and outgoing bows, instead of "Worthy to eat"(up to the giving of Easter) the irmos of the ninth song of the Easter canon is read:
With veti1сz sveti1сz n0vyi їєrli1me, thank God gDнz is on you. lyky nn7e i3 fun1сz сіНne, the same chctaz beautifulz btsde, њ vostanіi rzhctva yoursw2 (bow to the earth).
(Translation: Light up, light up (with joy) the new Jerusalem; for the glory of the Lord has shone upon you; rejoice now and rejoice Zion: and you, Mother of God, rejoice in the resurrection of your Begotten).
Unfortunately, today not every person can get into the Old Believer church for the Easter service. In many regions there are no Old Believer churches, in others they are so remote that it is extremely difficult to get to them. Therefore, the section contains the following of the Paschal Divine Liturgy according to the two Rules. According to the abbreviated Rule, the Paschal Divine Liturgy includes in succession Bright Matins, the Canon of Pascha, the Paschal Hours, and the Luncheon (civil font). We also offer a detailed follow-up of the service on Holy Easter by the secular rite (in Church Slavonic in pdf format), which is widely used in non-priest communities due to the lack of a priesthood.
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Traditions of celebrating Easter among the Old Believers
The Old Believers of all accords - both priests and bezpopovtsy - have largely common traditions for celebrating the Holy Resurrection of Christ. The Old Believers start breaking the fast for Holy Easter at a meal with their family after the church service. In many communities there is also a common church meal, at which many believers gather. On the day of the Resurrection of Christ, special dishes are put on the table that are prepared only once a year: Easter cake, curd Easter, colored eggs. In addition to special Easter dishes, many traditional Russian delicacies are prepared. At the beginning of the Easter meal, it is customary to eat the food consecrated in the temple, then all the other dishes.
Easter holiday dishes that are prepared once a year On Easter, it is customary to celebrate Christ - to congratulate each other on the great holiday and exchange colored eggs, as a symbol of life, kissing each other three times. You can read more about Easter kissing in Fr. Ivan Kurbatsky ""
painted in red onion skins, an egg used to be called krashenka, painted - pysanka, and wooden Easter eggs - eggs. The red egg marks for people the rebirth by the blood of Christ.
The other colors and patterns used to decorate the eggs are an innovation that in many priestless communities not welcome, as well as thermal stickers with the image of the face of Christ, the Virgin, images of temples and inscriptions. All this “printing” is usually widely presented on store shelves in the pre-Easter weeks, but few people think about the future fate of such a thermal sticker - after it is peeled off the Easter egg, it, along with the image of Jesus Christ or the Virgin goes straight to the trash can.
There are a number of differences in the celebration of Easter within the non-priestly agreements. So, in some non-priest communities of Siberia, Easter cakes are not baked at all and, accordingly, they are not consecrated, considering this a Jewish custom. In other communities, there is no changing of clothes, changing of dark clothes and scarves to light ones, parishioners remain in the same Christian clothes that they came to worship. Common in the Easter traditions of the Old Believers of all accords is, of course, the attitude to work during Bright Week. On the eve of a holiday or Sunday, Christians work only until half of the day preceding the holiday, and it is a great sin for the Old Believers to work throughout the Easter week. This is a time of spiritual joy, a time of solemn prayer and glorification of the risen Christ. Unlike the Old Believers-priests, in some non-priestly agreements there is no custom for the mentor to go around the houses of the parishioners with the glorification of Christ, however, each parishioner, if desired, can certainly invite a mentor to sing Easter stichera and a festive meal.
Happy Easter holiday- the most favorite holiday since childhood, it is always joyful, especially warm and solemn! It brings especially much joy to children, and every believer tries to give Easter Egg, Easter cake or sweets, especially for the child.
Egg rolling - old Russian Easter fun for kids On Bright Week, in some non-priest communities, the ancient fun for kids is still preserved, to which adults join with undisguised joy - rolling painted (unsanctified) eggs. The essence of the game is as follows: each player rolls his egg along a special wooden path - a chute, and if the rolled egg hits someone else's egg, then the player takes it for himself as a prize. Souvenir gifts are usually laid out not far from the gutter. In the old days, such competitions could last for several hours! And the “lucky ones” returned home with a rich “harvest” of eggs.
Rolling eggs for Easter at the Moscow Old Believer Prayer Room (DPTSL) For all Old Believers, regardless of consent, Easter is Feast of Feasts and Celebration of Feasts, this is the victory of good over evil, light over darkness, this is a great triumph, an eternal holiday of angels and archangels, immortal life for the whole world, imperishable heavenly bliss for people. The atoning sacrifice of the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ, the blood shed by Him on the Holy Cross delivered man from the terrible power of sin and death. Yes it will" Easter is new holy, Easter is mysterious”, glorified in festive hymns, continue in our hearts all the days of our lives!
Resurrection of Christ. Icons
In the Old Believer iconography there is no separate icon of the Resurrection of Christ, because the moment of the resurrection of Jesus was not seen not only by people, but even by angels. This emphasizes the incomprehensibility of the mystery of Christ. The image of Christ familiar to us, in snow-white robes, coming out of the coffin with a banner in his hand, is a later Catholic version, which appeared in the churches of the Russian Orthodox Church only in post-Petrine times.
In Orthodox iconography, the icon of the Resurrection of Christ, as a rule, depicts the moment of the Savior's descent into hell and the removal of the souls of the Old Testament righteous from hell. Also, sometimes the resurrected Christ is depicted in radiance, an angel preaching the gospel to the Myrrh-bearing Women, and other subjects related to the Resurrection. The plot "The Resurrection of Christ - Descent into Hell" is one of the most common iconographic plots.
Resurrection of Christ - Descent into hell. Russia, 19th century The general idea of the Paschal image of Christ in hell is consonant with the theme of the Exodus of the people of Israel from Egypt. As Moses once freed the Jews from slavery, so Christ goes to the underworld and frees the souls languishing there. And not only liberates, but transfers them to the realm of Truth and Light.
Descent into hell. Andrei Rublev, 1408-1410 
Dionysius. Icon "Descent into Hell" (end of the 15th century, Russian Museum). 
Resurrection and descent into hell with Passion and feasts. XIX century. Museum of the History of Religion, St. Petersburg
Churches of the Resurrection of Christ
most famous Church of the Resurrection of Christ is Church of the Holy Sepulcher(Jerusalem Church of the Resurrection of Christ).
Churches of the Resurrection of Christ in Rus' were built in the name of the Resurrection of the Word, or Renewal, that is, consecration after the restoration of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, completed in 355 under St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine the Great.
Several temples in honor of this holiday have been preserved in Moscow, one of them is Church of the Resurrection of the Word on the Assumption Vrazhek. The first mention of the temple dates back to 1548. It was a wooden church that burned down in a great Moscow fire on April 10, 1629. In its place, by 1634, an existing stone temple was built. For almost two centuries the temple stood unchanged, in 1816-1820 the refectory and the bell tower were rebuilt.
One of the oldest churches in Kolomna was consecrated in honor of the Resurrection of the Word. On January 18, 1366, the holy noble prince Dmitry Donskoy and the holy princess Evdokia (monastic Euphrosyne) of Moscow were married in this church. The temple was rebuilt several times. In the 1990s it was returned to the parish of the Assumption Cathedral of the Russian Orthodox Church.
During the time of the Golden Horde in Kolomenskoye Posad was erected, mentioned in the cadastral books of 1577-1578. At the beginning of the 18th century, a temple was built in its place with the main altar in honor of the Resurrection of the Word and an altar church in the name of St. Nicholas. In the early 1990s, this one of the oldest and most beautiful churches in the city of Kolomna, the administration handed over to the community of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church. The main temple holiday is now celebrated on December 19, in honor of St. Nikola "winter", and among the people this temple is still known by many as the temple of the Resurrection of Christ.
Old Believer Churches of the Resurrection of Christ
The famous Rogozhskaya bell tower was consecrated on August 18, 1913 in the name of the Resurrection of Christ, after this temple was erected at the expense of philanthropists in honor of granting freedom of religion to the Old Believers. After the temple was defiled during the persecution of the atheists, it had to be re-consecrated. In 1949 it was consecrated in the name of the Dormition Holy Mother of God, since the old antimis in the name of the Resurrection of Christ disappeared, however, the antimis, consecrated in the name of the Assumption of the Mother of God, was kept at Rogozhsky. The temple remained in this position until January 31, 2014. In the late 1990s, proposals began to be studied to return the temple to its historical name. After the reconstruction and overhaul of the temple in 2012, it had to be re-consecrated. The initiative to reconsecrate the temple with its historical name was supported by the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church, Metropolitan Kornily (Titov) at the Consecrated Cathedral in 2014. February 1, 2015 in the Rogozhskaya Sloboda, the temple-bell tower of the Rogozhsky cemetery was held. Thus he had a historical name.
The Old Orthodox Pomeranian Church belongs to the current one (Moscow). This is the first Old Believer church of the Pomor community (the 2nd Moscow community of Pomor marriage consent), built after the 1905 manifesto on religious tolerance in Moscow. The history of this temple is very long-suffering. Now the restoration of the temple is being continued at the expense of the community members, while services are being held.
Also in Lithuania, in the city of Visaginas, there is the Church of the Resurrection of Christ of the Old Orthodox Pomeranian Church.
Christian Passover and Pesach among the Jews (Jewish Passover)
In 2017, the Orthodox celebrate Easter on April 16, and the Jewish holiday Pesach (Jewish Passover) falls on April 11–17 this year. Thus, many attentive Christians ask the question: Why in 2017 the Orthodox celebrate Easter with the Jews? Such a question comes from the 7th canon of the holy apostles, which literally sounds like this:
If anyone, a bishop, or a presbyter, or a deacon, celebrates the holy day of Pascha before the spring equinox with the Jews: let him be deposed from the sacred order.
It turns out that allegedly this year all Orthodox will violate the 7th Apostolic Canon? In the minds of some Christians, a whole " ecumenical tangle”, when in 2017 Orthodox, Catholics and Jews celebrate Easter on the same day. How to be?
To resolve this issue, you should know that disputes about calculating the day of Easter in the Orthodox Church, in fact, ended with the approval of the Orthodox Paschalia for First Ecumenical Council. Easter tables allow you to calculate the day of Easter calendar, that is, without looking at the sky, but with the help of calendar tables, cyclically repeating every 532 years. These tables have been compiled in such a way that Easter Satisfied Two Apostolic Rules About Easter:
- Celebrate Easter after the first spring full moon (that is, after the first full moon after the spring equinox);
- do not celebrate the Passover with the Jews.
Since these two rules do not uniquely determine the day of Easter, two more auxiliary rules were added to them, which, together with the apostolic (main) rules, made it possible to determine Easter unambiguously and compile calendar tables of Orthodox Paschalia. Auxiliary rules are not as important as the apostolic ones, and besides, one of them began to be violated over time, since the calendar method for calculating the first spring full moon, laid down in Paschalia, gave a small error - 1 day in 300 years. This was noticed and discussed in detail, for example, in the Collection of Patristic Canons Matthew Blastar. However, since this error did not affect the observance of the apostolic rules, but only strengthened them, shifting the day of the celebration of Easter a little forward according to the dates of the calendar, the Orthodox Church decided not to change Paschalia, approved by the fathers of the Ecumenical Council. In the Catholic Church, Paschal was changed in 1582 in such a way that the auxiliary canon, which had lost its force, began to be fulfilled again, but the apostolic canon of not co-celebrating with the Jews began to be violated. As a result, Orthodox and Catholic Easter diverged in time, although sometimes they can coincide.
If you look at the two apostolic canons cited above, it is striking that one of them - about not co-celebrating with the Jews - is not quite strictly stated and requires interpretation. The fact is that Passover celebration lasts 7 days. Orthodox Easter, in fact, is also celebrated for 7 days, throughout the entire Bright Week. The question arises: what does do not celebrate with the Jews"? Do not allow the coincidence of Bright Sunday with the first day of the Jewish Passover? Or should we take a more strict approach and not allow the imposition of Bright Sunday on any of the 7 days of the Jewish holiday?
In fact, by carefully studying Paschalia, one might suspect that before the First Ecumenical Council, Christians used both the first (weak) and the second (strong) interpretation of the apostolic canon. However, the fathers of the First Ecumenical Council, when compiling Paschalia, definitely stopped on the first interpretation: Bright Sunday should not coincide only with the first, main day of the Jewish Easter, but it can coincide with the subsequent 6 days of the Jewish holiday. Such was the opinion of the First Ecumenical Council, clearly expressed in Paschalia, which the Orthodox Church still adheres to. Thus, in 2017, the Orthodox do not violate the 7th canon of the holy apostles about celebrating Easter with the Jews, because Christian Easter does not coincide with the first day of Jewish Easter, and on other days such " overlays are not forbidden, especially since there have been similar cases before.
New Paschalists and their teachings
In our time, in 2010, several members of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church questioned the patristic interpretation of the apostolic canon on Easter and decided to reconsider this issue. Actually, only one was involved in the revision A. Yu. Ryabtsev and the rest just took his word for it. A.Yu. Ryabtsev, in particular, wrote (we quote his words in part, omitting obvious conjectures):
… Often our Easter coincides with last days Passover, which is celebrated for seven days, and the first main rule for calculating Passover is violated ... In modern practice, we sometimes find ourselves on the last days of Passover.
A.Yu. Ryabtsev suggested banning the coincidence of Bright Sunday with all 7 days of the Jewish holiday of Easter and celebrating Orthodox Easter according to new rules he himself proposed. Supporters of this doctrine began to be called " neopaschalists" or " New Easter eggs". On May 1, 2011, they celebrated Easter for the first time under the new rules in an ancient cave temple on Mount Tepe-Kermen in Crimea. After the Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2011, which condemned the celebration of Easter according to new calculations, the New Paschalists separated into a separate religious group that still exists today. It includes only a few people. There seems to be some connection between this group and G. Sterligov, who also expressed the idea of changing the day of the celebration of Orthodox Easter.
Abstract of the lesson. EASTER OF CHRIST (history of the holiday)
Story for preschool children.
talk about the customs and rituals associated with the holiday.
To develop the spiritual and moral potential of pupils.
To create motivation for the holiday through acquaintance with its history, traditions, and customs.
Tasks: To acquaint children with the Orthodox holiday "Holiday of Easter", with its history. Talk about the customs and rituals associated with the holiday. Awaken children's interest in folk culture. Raise patriotic feelings for the Orthodox traditions of the Russian people, for folk art
Lesson progress:
The history of Easter is a journey through the millennia. Leafing through its pages, you can discover something new every time, because the history of the origin of Easter is an interweaving of traditions, beliefs and customs.
Let's go on this journey! Do you agree?
Pascha is the feast of the Holy Resurrection of Christ, we joyfully meet Easter And sing: “Christ is risen! We all unanimously answer: “He has truly risen!” Years pass in succession Under the azure sky. And the people everywhere sing: “He is truly risen!” Joy and hugs are everywhere: “Brother, sister, Christ is risen! Hell is destroyed, there is no curse: He is truly risen! (V. Kuzmenkov)
Jesus Christ was sent by God to earth for our salvation from sins (bad deeds)
He was kind, fair, never condemned anyone and fought evil.
The kings were afraid that Jesus Christ would himself become the ruler of the whole world. And they executed Him - they crucified Him on the cross.
Jesus Christ was executed on Friday. At this time, the earth shook and stones fell from the rocks and mountains. For people it was the saddest and most mournful day. Today this day is called GOOD FRIDAY.
After the execution, the disciples of Christ removed his body from the cross and put it in a cave and closed the entrance to it with a huge stone.
On Sunday, the women came to the cave and saw that the entrance to it was open. The women were very surprised that such a huge and heavy stone was moved away.
The angel announced the joyful news of the miraculous resurrection of Christ. Christ is risen, which means he became immortal.
One of the women, Mary Magdalene, decided to inform the Roman emperor about the resurrection of Christ. She gave the emperor an egg, which symbolized a miracle. But the emperor said to Mary: “It is rather that this egg will turn red than I will believe that Jesus has risen.”
The egg immediately turned red ... Since then, there has been a tradition of painting eggs for Easter.
At happy holiday Resurrection - Christ's their traditions, customs, symbols and ancient rituals associated with them.
Easter fire, spring water of the stream, a wreath, eggs, Easter cakes - all these are symbols of the Great Day and have roots in the distant past.
Fire protected our ancestors from predatory animals and evil spirits, people made fires to drive away winter and meet spring faster. The Easter fire embodied the power of the hearth.
The Easter wreath is a symbol of eternal life.
The egg symbolized the small miracle of birth. There are many customs with the egg. Our ancestors wrote prayers, magic spells and signs on them. Deep meaning is embedded in simple patterns. For example, a circle symbolizes the bright sun, and wavy lines symbolize the oceans and seas.
On the holiday, egg fights are popular at the Easter meal, or "choking" eggs, as the people say. This is a simple and fun game: someone holds an egg with its nose up, and the "rival" beats it with the nose of another egg. Whoever's shell did not crack, he won and continues to "clink glasses" with another person.
The holiday lasted all Bright Week, the table remained set, invited to the table, treated, especially those who could not or did not have such an opportunity.
Easter - main holiday Christian calendar. No wonder it is called "holidays a holiday and a celebration of celebrations."
In our country, approximately 90% of Orthodox Christians have never read the New Testament (not to mention other Holy Books), but many of them sacredly honor all religious traditions and observe fasts. And absolutely everyone celebrates such holidays as Easter or Christmas, without having the slightest idea about their meaning and history of occurrence. Therefore, when you ask almost any of them a seemingly elementary question: "Why do you paint eggs and buy Easter cakes every year for Easter? What does it all mean?"- in 99% of cases you get something like this:
What are you, some kind of fool? That's what EVERYONE does. It's a holiday!
- Whose holiday? What is this all for?
After that, your Orthodox interlocutor starts mumbling something incomprehensibly, getting angry and brushing you off. And further questions and clarifications introduce him into the state of the wildest bathhurt and popobol.
But our grandmothers can still be understood and forgiven - they do not use these Internets of yours, and indeed they grew up in another state where atheism dominated. The obscurantism of younger generations is more difficult to justify. In addition, few of them know that until relatively recently the church itself banned all these eggs, Easter cakes and other today's Easter attributes, considering them ungodly paganism.
In general, for all those interested in these issues, I wrote this small review post.
Old Testament.
Passover, or Pesach in Hebrew, originates from those distant Old Testament times, when the Jews were in slavery to the Egyptians.
Once Gd appeared to Moses the shepherd in the form of a fireproof bush (Ex. 3:2) and commanded him to go to Egypt in order to bring the Israelites out of there and resettle them in Canaan. This had to be done in order to save the Jews from starvation, because for 400 years of being in Egyptian slavery, their numbers increased seven times. And the pharaoh, in order to cope with the population explosion, even had to arrange a real genocide for them: at first he exhausted the Jews with hard work, and then he ordered the "midwives" who take birth to kill Jewish male babies. (Ex. 1:15-22) .
But the pharaoh did not agree to the requests of Moses to let the Jews go. And then God-Yahweh, in modern terms, arranged a mass terror of the indigenous Egyptian population, in the form of pogroms, arson, murders and doomsday. All these disasters were called in the Pentateuch "Ten Plagues of Egypt":
Execution No. 10: the killing of the firstborn of the pharaoh.
First, Aaron - the elder brother and accomplice of Moses - poisoned fresh water in local reservoirs (Ex. 7: 20-21)
Then the Lord arranged for them the wildest invasions of insects and amphibians (execution with frogs, punishment with midges, dog flies and locusts (Ex. 8: 8-25).
Further, He arranged a pestilence for the Egyptians, caused dermatological epidemics, brought down a fiery hail, plunged the population into darkness for three days. And when all this did not help, he resorted to extreme measures - massacres: killing all the first-born (with the exception of the Jews). (Ex. 12:29) .
In general, the next day, the frightened pharaoh, whose firstborn also died, released all the Jews with their livestock and belongings.
And Moses ordered to celebrate Easter every year in memory of the day of liberation from slavery.
Exodus of Jews from the devastated Egyptian lands.
But what about colored eggs and holiday cakes?
New Testament.
It was in memory of those events that Jesus Christ celebrated Easter for the last time in 33 AD. The table was modest: wine - as a symbol of the blood of the sacrificial lamb, unleavened bread and bitter herbs in memory of the bitterness of the former slavery. This was the last supper of Jesus and the apostles.
(By the way, I will talk about one more ritual associated with the massacres of artiodactyl mammals before Eid al-Adha).
The Last Supper: The last meal of Jesus Christ with His twelve closest disciples, during which He established the sacrament of the Eucharist and predicted the betrayal of one of the disciples.
However, the Bible says that on the eve of his arrest, Jesus changed the meaning of the festive dishes. The Gospel of Luke says the following: “Then he took bread, gave thanks to God, broke it and gave it to them, saying: “This means my body, which will be given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” Similarly, he took the bowl after supper, saying: "This cup signifies a new covenant based on my blood that will be shed for you."(Luke 22:19,20) .
Thus, Jesus foretold his death, but somehow He did not order For His disciples to celebrate Easter in honor of His resurrection. There is not a single mention of this in the Bible.
The apostles and early Christians commemorated the anniversary of the death of Jesus every year on Nisan 14 according to the Jewish calendar (end of March / beginning of April in our opinion). It was a commemorative supper at which ate unleavened bread and drank wine.
Thus, while the Jews celebrated their Pesach as liberation from Egyptian slavery, the first Christians celebrated Pascha as a day of mourning. Because over the next two centuries, Christianity successfully gained popularity, rapidly increasing "its own electorate" - the first contradictions began to appear both in the celebration of Easter and in the very date of its celebration. But more on that later.
First Nicaea (Ecumenical) Council.
Long before the advent of Christianity, the Romans worshiped their own God, Attis, the patron saint of plants. An interesting coincidence can be traced here: the Romans believed that Attis was born as a result of an immaculate conception, died young due to the wrath of Jupiter, but was resurrected a few days after death. And in honor of his resurrection, people began to arrange a ritual every spring: they cut down a tree, tied a statue of a young man to it and carried it to the city square with weeping. Then they began to dance to the music, and soon fell into a trance: they took out knives, inflicted small injuries on themselves in the form of stab wounds, and sprinkled the tree with the statue with their blood. Thus the Romans said goodbye to Attis. By the way, they fasted and fasted until the Feast of the Resurrection.
In Dan Brown's novel "The Da Vinci Code" there is one interesting moment, where one of the characters talks in detail about how Christ's candidacy was approved "for the position of God" at the First Nicene (Ecumenical) Council, held in 325. This event took place in history.
First Nicaea (Ecumenical) Council. 325 Jesus was approved on it and the reformation of the celebration of Easter was carried out.
It was then that the Roman emperor Constantine I, fearing a split in society along religious lines, managed to unite the two religions, making Christianity the main state religion. Therefore, many Christian rites and sacraments are so similar to pagan ones and have such diametrically opposite meanings "from the original source". This also applies to the celebration of Easter. And in the same year 325, the Christian Easter was separated from the Jewish one.
But where are the eggs, you ask? We'll get to them soon. and one more necessary clarification:
Calculation of the date of Easter.
Disputes about the correct determination of the date for the celebration of Easter have not subsided to this day.
The general rule for calculating the date of Easter is: "Easter is celebrated the first Sunday after spring full moon».
Those. it must be: a) in the spring, b) the first Sunday, c) after the full moon.
The complexity of the calculation is also due to the mixing of independent astronomical cycles:
The revolution of the Earth around the Sun (the date of the vernal equinox);
- revolution of the Moon around the Earth (full moon);
- the fixed day of celebration is Sunday.
But let's not get into the jungle of these calculations and immediately move on to the main thing:
The displacement of paganism in Rus' by Christianity.
We will also not delve into the main historical sad facts of those distant years, so as not to turn the post into a kilometer-long treatise on the history of Ancient Rus' - but only slightly and only from one side, we will touch on it, naming the main events that predetermined the planting of Christianity on the territory of our state.
Byzantium was interested in the Christianization of Rus'. It was believed that any nation that accepted the Christian faith from the hands of the emperor and the patriarch of Constantinople automatically becomes a vassal of the empire. The contacts of Rus' with Byzantium contributed to the penetration of Christianity into the Russian environment. Metropolitan Michael was sent to Rus', who, according to legend, baptized the Kyiv prince Askold. Christianity was popular among combatants and the merchant class under Igor and Oleg, and Princess Olga herself became a Christian during a visit to Constantinople in the 950s.
In 988, Vladimir the Great baptizes Rus', and begins to fight pagan holidays on the advice of Byzantine monks. But then for the Russians, Christianity was an alien and incomprehensible religion, and if the authorities began to openly fight paganism, the people would rebel. In addition, the Magi had great authority and influence on the minds. Therefore, a slightly different tactic was chosen: not by force, but by cunning.
Each pagan holiday was gradually given a new, Christian meaning. Also, the signs of pagan gods familiar to the Russians were attributed to Christian saints. Thus, "Kolyada" - ancient holiday winter solstice- gradually transformed into the Nativity of Christ. "Kupailo" - summer solstice- renamed the feast of John the Baptist, who is still called Ivan Kupala among the people. And as for the Christian Easter, it coincided with a very special Russian holiday, which was called . This holiday was the pagan New Year, and it was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox, when all nature came to life.
Feast of the Great Day: the most important holiday in the calendar of the Eastern and Western Slavs.
Our ancestors, preparing for the Great Day, painted eggs and baked Easter cakes. But only the meanings of these symbols were not at all similar to Christian ones. When the Byzantine monks first saw How people celebrate this holiday - they declared it a terrible sin, and began to fight it in every possible way.
Easter eggs and Easter cakes.
There used to be a game called "red testicle". Men took painted eggs and beat them with each other. The winner is the one who breaks the most other people's eggs without breaking his own. This was done in order to attract women, as it was believed that the victorious man would be the strongest and best. Women had the same ritual - but their battle with colored kagbe eggs symbolized fertilization, since the egg among many peoples of the world has long been considered a symbol of spring rebirth and new life.
Beating eggs was carried out not only for entertainment and gaming purposes, but also in order to appease the goddess of fertility. By appeasing her in this way, they hoped for a future rich harvest, breeding of livestock and the birth of children.
According to one of the variations Makosh - Mokosh. It originated from the word "wet". Water was considered the symbol of Mokosh, giving life to the earth and all living beings.
Some believe that the custom of baking Easter cakes for Easter came from the Jews who baked their Easter bread, which is called matzo. This is wrong. Jesus himself broke the bread and served it to the apostles at the Last Supper, but this bread was flat and unleavened. And the Easter cake is made loose, with raisins, and sprinkled with icing on top, and then they are measured - whose type has grown higher.
This tradition arose long before Christianity came to Rus'. Our ancestors worshiped the sun and believed that Dazhdbog dies every winter and is born again in the spring. And in honor of the new solar birth in those days, every woman had to bake her own cake in the oven (the symbol of the female womb) and perform a birth ritual over her. When baking Easter cake, women lifted the hem, simulating pregnancy. It was considered a symbol of new life.
As you might guess, the baked Easter cake, which has a cylindrical shape, covered with white icing and sprinkled with seeds, is nothing more than an erect male sexual member. Ancestors treated such associations calmly, because for them the main thing was that the land yielded crops, and women gave birth. Therefore, after Easter was taken out of the oven, a cross was painted on it, which was a symbol of the sun god. Dazhdbog was responsible for the fertility of women and for the fertility of the land.
These similarities of Dazhdbog with Jesus Christ: the resurrection and the main symbol - the cross, according to historians, were the main signs by which the Byzantine church managed to successfully merge paganism and Christianity together.
Maundy Thursday and the zombie apocalypse.
Unlike the Easter of the first Christians, who ate exclusively unleavened bread with wine, our ancestors celebrated Great Day on full program: with meat, sausages and other goodies. With the establishment of Christianity, the church forbade eating meat for the holiday. However, once a year, meat dishes were treated not to ordinary guests, but to the dead. This ritual was called - "Radunitsy":
People gathered in cemeteries on the Thursday before Great Day. They brought food in baskets, laid it out on the graves, and then began to loudly and drawlingly call their dead, ask them to return to the world of the living, and taste delicious food. It was believed that it was on the Thursday before the Great Day that the ancestors came out of the earth and remained next to living people until the next Sunday after the holiday. At this time, they could not be called dead, because they hear everything they say and can be offended. People carefully prepared for the “meeting” with relatives: they coaxed the brownies with small sacrifices, hung amulets and cleaned their houses.
To date, this completely unkind holiday has been divided into two joyful ones: on a clean Thursday - when the housewives arrange a general cleaning in the house, and on a wired Sunday - when all our grandmothers rush to the cemeteries in a friendly crowd and lay out painted eggs and Easter cakes on the graves of their relatives.
But this change did not happen immediately. Pagan rituals were fought for quite a long time and hard, and in the 16th century even Ivan the Terrible joined this struggle, who tried to get rid of dual faith. In pursuance of the decrees of Ivan the Terrible, the priests began to look after the religious order and even spy. But this did not help, the people still honored their traditions, and as before, people continued to perform pagan rituals in their homes, and went to church in front of their eyes. And the church gave up. In the 18th century, pagan symbols were declared Christian, they even had a divine origin. So fertility eggs became a symbol of Christ's resurrection, and Dazhdbog's bread turned into a symbol of Jesus Christ.
Epilogue.
Now, brothers and sisters, you know almost everything about Easter. It remains only to draw a small parallel.
Over many centuries, Easter, like our Victory Day, has turned from a Day of mourning for the dead into a festive bacchanalia. Almost no one knows or remembers how it all began and why all this is needed. Just another holiday from which you can swell Orthodoxally and go with impunity to the hellish Christian drunken-carbon breakout.
Now you will KNOW what to drink for. And drink at all. After all, perhaps for someone this day will be a day of sorrow. Or a day of big sad thoughts...
Easter is one of the most important religious holidays for many believers. This Sunday, not only church services are often held, but also festive feasts with Easter cakes and Easter, painted eggs, and folk festivals. But what is Easter? What symbolism do Easter attributes have? What was the history of the holiday?
Easter in ancient times.
Initially, the holiday appeared thanks to the Jewish people. Then Easter had a connection with the liberation of the Jews from the slavery of the Egyptians. This liberation took place thanks to the prophet Moses.
It should be noted that before the name of the holiday sounded like Pesach, which can be translated as “pass”. At the same time, the name of the holiday meant “to spare”, “to deliver”.
For the celebration of Passover, the Jewish people set aside 7 days. Believers sought to spend this time in Jerusalem.
In memory of the events that took place on the day of Passover, the Jews conjured a male lamb, which was only a year old. The lamb was supposed to be distinguished by the absence of blemish. At the same time, his meat was baked on fire. The lamb was eaten completely, leaving even the bones intact. In addition to such a table, it was customary to use unleavened bread, known as matzah, and bitter herbs. On Easter evening, people ate gruel, which was prepared from fruits and nuts, and drank wine. The father of the whole family had to tell in detail how the Jews escaped Egyptian slavery. Bread could only be consumed fresh, as it symbolized the hasty departure from Egypt and the impossibility of fermenting pastries with you.
Easter in the era of early Christianity.
After Jesus Christ, the holiday was rethought. As a result, its meaning has changed dramatically. Now Easter began to represent the death and miracle of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the protector of all mankind. At present, it is not possible to name the exact date when the Resurrection of Jesus Christ took place, and the date of the holiday is changeable. It should be noted that calculating the date of an important religious holiday is not as easy as we would like.
The Jewish people used the lunar calendar instead of the solar calendar. However, there are certain differences. The amount of difference is 11 days. There are 365 days in the solar day and 354 days in the lunar calendar. At the same time, errors are rapidly accumulating in the lunar calendar, which are not so easy to correct. For this reason, it is currently impossible to name the exact date when Easter should be celebrated.
The Gospel states that Jesus Christ was crucified on Friday the 14th day, and the resurrection took place on the 16th day. Both dates were in the month of Nisan. Previously, this day was called the Lord's. Subsequently, the Slavs began to call this day Sunday. Nissan corresponded to March - April.
People began to choose a day to celebrate Easter only by the 2nd - 3rd century AD. This was explained by the fact that Christians who lived in different territories used different calendars. Due to use different calendars the date of the celebration of Easter began to differ markedly. In addition, the Passover of the Jews and Christians of Asia Minor existed as separate holidays.
The Church took into account the nuances of the situation. As a result, in the 4th century it was decided that Easter should be celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon in the spring. This period can come from April 4 to May 8. The Bishop of Alexandria announced the feast every year, using special calculations by astronomers. All churches knew what day to celebrate Easter.
In this period, Lent was already a symbol of the suffering and worldly death of Jesus Christ. At the same time, Easter was usually called the Cross. The fast ended only on Sunday night. Then the believers celebrated the Resurrection of Christ and rejoiced. It should be noted that many Easter attributes were formed during the period of early Christianity.
Easter in the Middle Ages and Modern Times.
In the 8th century, Rome adopted the Eastern Paschalia. Then, for 500 years, Easter was celebrated based on agreements made between the Eastern and Western churches.
In 1582, the Julian calendar was replaced by the Gregorian calendar. As a result, in 1583, a new Paschal was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII. From now on, the Catholic Easter may differ earlier than the Jewish holiday or coincide with it, ahead of the Orthodox Easter by about a month.
Easter these days
In the first third of the 10th century, several attempts were made to create a new Julian calendar that would be even more accurate than the Gregorian. Despite this, the aspirations were not successful. As a result, it was decided that Easter and all other religious holidays of a transitory nature should be celebrated according to the Julian calendar, and not according to the calendar used by the Church.
Currently, the Julian calendar is the basis for the Russian, Jerusalem, Serbian, as well as the Georgian Church, Athos. It should be noted that the Finnish Orthodox Church fully uses the Gregorian calendar. Other Churches use the old calendar style for rolling feasts and the new calendar style for non-moving holidays.
Today, before Easter, it is customary to fast for 7 weeks. This time is enough for people to repent of their mistakes and realize them, to be cleansed on a spiritual level.
By tradition, a special service begins on Sunday. Among the differences, it is necessary to note the unique structure and special words that are customary to pronounce. Believers strive to attend a church service, and then go through the sacrament, to be christened. It should be noted that the christening is mutual kisses at a meeting, hugs and changes in two phrases, namely “Christ is Risen!” - "Truly Risen."
Easter celebration lasts 40 days. It was this number of days that Jesus Christ appeared before his disciples, after which he went to God the Father in heaven. The first week is especially important, and Sunday plays a truly important role. It is on this day that it is customary to celebrate Easter, visit each other, exchange eggs and cooked Easter cakes, Easter.
What do Easter attributes mean?
Many people cook Easter cakes, paint eggs, carry out christening. What is it connected with? Why do such attributes persist for a long time?
Easter cake is a symbol of church artos, sacred bread large sizes with the image of a wreath of thorns, a cross or the image of the Resurrection. For a long time, this particular bread symbolizes the victory of Jesus Christ over worldly death, because he continues to live, but in a different way. The apostles were accustomed to leaving an empty seat at their table. At the same time they put a small bread, thinking about Jesus Christ. still exist next rite: the sacred bread must be carried around the church with the procession, and then left on festive table. On Saturday, after the blessing is held, pastries are distributed to believers who live in poverty.
What does it have to do with an egg? It is believed that Mary Magdalene arrived in Rome in order to preach the gospel. It was Mary who informed the imperial emperor Tiberius about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and it was then that she presented the egg to him. It is customary to paint the egg red, since the emperor did not believe in the possibility of resurrection and said that this was not possible, just as it was impossible for the egg to turn red. At that moment, a miracle happened, because the egg still turned red.
Before Easter, many believers look forward to the appearance of fire, which is a symbol of the Light of God. It is this fire that enlightens all people in the world. It is customary to carry the Holy Fire to Orthodox churches so that believers can use it for their candles.
In the West, as before, it is customary to kindle large bonfires next to temples, symbolizing Light and Renewal. In some cases, the fire is interpreted as a symbol of the burning of Judas. The process of Christening, a special Easter greeting, allows people to open their hearts to each other, to light a flame of hope for a brighter future.
Easter is an opportunity to renew yourself and spend the day in a special way, approaching peace of mind, being with your loved ones.
