www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Different Eastern Orthodox Paschal Customs

(This was taken from Holy-Trinity.org)

Palm Sunday to Pascha: Orthodox Customs

Holy Tradition (written with a capital "T") encompasses the beliefs of the Orthodox Church which are set forth in Holy Scripture, the writings of the Fathers, the liturgy of the Church, and through oral transmission through the ages. An example of Holy Tradition is that Joachim and Anna are the parents of Mary the Theotokos. Their names do not appear in the Bible, but have been handed down to us since the beginnings of Church history.

Orthodox traditions (written with a small "T") are defined as pious customs - they are things that we do, not things that we believe. There are many examples of pious traditions in the week from Palm Sunday through Pascha, the feast of the Resurrection.

An Arabic tradition is to hold candles decorated with flowers for Palm Sunday along with palm branches. Greeks hold crosses woven from either palm branches or bay leaves on Palm Sunday. Slavic peoples receive pussy willow branches on Palm Sunday. These are adaptations due to climate in the country of origin of these people.

Greeks greet each other with "kali anastasi" or "Good Resurrection" on Great and Holy Friday.

In the Russian tradition, the faithful carry home the "Thursday Fire" - the candles that we hold during the reading of the 12 Passion Gospels on Holy Thursday night. The flame is used to light the lampada in the family's Icon Corner where it remains burning for the whole year.

In the Greek tradition, on the other hand, the Paschal light is taken home instead. After the Resurrection service, the faithful do not blow out the candles, but hold them during the entire Paschal Divine Liturgy. Every time the Troparion "Christ is Risen.." is sung or the celebrant exclaims "Christ is risen!" everyone in the congregation lifts his candle high as the choir sings or responds with "Indeed, He is risen!" After the service, the faithful take the fire home to light the lampadas in front of their icons. At mealtimes, the candle is lit as the family sings "Christ is risen.."

The red egg that the celebrants presents to the faithful at the end of the Paschal Divine Liturgy is also a tradition. The egg represents Christ in the tomb. Breaking the egg is symbolic of the Resurrection.

Slavic people and by some Greek families observe the tradition of bringing a basket of food to be blessed after the Paschal Divine Liturgy. The basket usually contains bread (made with eggs and milk), cheese, meat, eggs, butter, salt, and other foods that the family plans on having for their Paschal celebration. There should also be a lit candle, symbolizing the Light of Christ.

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Dear friends, I would love to hear your Paschal customs....Alice

I guess that no one wants to share their customs?!

I still wish you all a very blessed holy week.

I was asked to read a psalm and also the doxology at last night's service...It felt wierd standing next to the male chanters at the 'psaltiri' (sorry don't know the English or Slavic word)...but I enjoyed reading and people told me that they enjoyed hearing me!

In Christ,
Alice

Well, the biggest non-liturgical Paschal custom in my family would be the preparation of the Paschal foods and basket to be blessed.

Dave

How about "Chanters Stand /desk " ?

Anhelyna - who is enjoying all these Eastern Liturgy facts :p

I take a basket of Pashal foods to be blessed.
It is mostly traditional Greek and Slavic foods. I always put some corned beef in as well, since Lent keeps me from having it on St. Patrick's Day.

By the way Alice, your parish's website is a beauty! I love the photos from Palm Sunday.

Michael

Dear Michael,

Actually the above site is not my parish. I got referred to it from a friend. I agree with you, however, it is a very nice site.

In Christ,
Alice

Do Byzantine Catholics and other Orthodox die their eggs red?

Do you bring the Easter light into your home also as the Greeks do? (making the sign of the cross with it on the top of the threshold)...

Inquisitively,
Alice

Hi Alice

Sorry, not to respond sooner, but our parish Easter bazaar was Saturday and I'm still trying to recover. You can see pics of it at www.patronagechurch.com [patronagechurch.com]

You asked about Easter eggs, well, we have 2 kinds of Easter eggs, we have KRASHANKY (hard-boiled eggs) and PYSANKY, the decorated eggs.

The Krashanky or hard-boiled eggs, were dyed red at one time but now are dyed all kinds of colors, with those fizzy PAAS dyes or glitter or sparkles or whatever the kids are doing today....

The Pysanky are eggs that have the intricate patterns done with beeswax and then dyed and the beeswax is removed.

I did 6 dozen pysanky for our church bazaar and sold 4 dozen and gave away another dozen. I'm still "writing" another 2 dozen to give to family and friends!

Each family adds different things to the basket according to where their family is from. Some add bottles of wine if they were from a wine-making region.

Some Hungarians put in a veal-loaf instead of ham.

In my family, we put in a big piece of bacon and bundles of green onions.

I even put in a red plastic egg with the XB on it that a friend sent from Moscow. This egg come apart and I fill it with candy.

I hope this helps....

A Blessed and Joyous Paska to all!!!

mark

Yes, I have a few pysanky given to me as gifts many years ago from someone who visited the Soviet Union...Are these only done in Ukraine or do they also decorate them like this in Russia? They are indeed beautiful, and I will go display them now.

As for the red dye used in Greek Easter eggs, these dies can be potent--as in dying anything they come in contact with!!

Many of us ladies make them for the church, and wrap them in a pretty white net tied up with a red ribbon, so that the church will have enough to give to the faithful on Easter eve...

As for those PAAS colors, I must admit that I really like them, and enjoyed dying eggs with them when the children were little.

Thanks for the response...the Easter basket tradition is a very nice one.

In Christ,
Alice

Hi Alice

I'm trying something new this year for St. Thomas Sunday. Our church mens club is doing the breakfast and we're going to have the ham & kolbas & hard-boiled eggs.

I just ordered some EDIBLE pysanky dyes and I hope they give me a nice bright shade of red!

We'll see....

Happy Paska!

mark

Alice, while the Ukrainian pysanky are perhaps the best known, you can find them in use in Russian, Czech and Slovak as well as some Hungarian and Romanian families.

We usually make a typical Ukrainian pasok with kovbasa, kyshka, syrnik, brinza, beet and horseradish relish, krashanky (red edible eggs), paska (bread), cheese paskas of various types, hrudka, lamb butter molds, etc. all of that.

We also have a unique custom since we raise sheep. We will usually slaughter the remaining last year's lamb crop Holy Week with some Ethiopian Orthodox friends. We also usually have Agape Vespers outdoors at a local lake followed by the Paschal food blessing and a wonderful picnic. We also have the year's biggest water fight (Water Monday) after the Bright Monday Divine Liturgy.

Dear Friends,

One of the most fascinating Paschal traditions of the East Slavs is the celebration of the paschal foods at the cemeteries!

In Desjarlais, Alberta and many other places, people go to the cemeteries a week or two before to clean up the graves of their friends and relatives.

They then come with their Easter foods and eat etc.

Eggs are then pushed into the ground at the graves and the like.

St John of Damascus understood the hard-boiled red egg as a symbol of Christ's Blood falling on the earth and on humanity and destroying the life of sin (thus, the hardness of the yolk symbolizing the death of sin).

The formal paschal greeting as given by St John Damascus is:

Christ is Risen!

To which the long form of response is:

Truly the Master of Heaven and Earth and of all things visible and invisible has risen from the dead!

The use of pussy-willows is also part of our paschal traditions and were used in pre-Christian East Slavic times.

The buds also represent Christ's Resurrection and the willows are used to decorate icons and Easter baskets.

One keeps them all year round for a protection, one places the pussy-willows into the coffins of reposed Christians - some even crush them and mix them in baking flour etc.

And Crosses are also made with pussy-willows.

Alex

Yes, the pusssy willows...while a Palm Sunday tradition, we also take the blessed pussy willows and lightly tap each other symbolic of what is called in Ukrainian "God's wounds" and saying "The willow hits, not I; A week from now will be Easter" (Loza bye, ne ya byu, vid niny za tizhden bude Velikden).

Also speaking of traditions concerning the dead and Paskha, on the Tuesday of Thomas Week is the beautiful tradition of Radonitsa, or a general commemoration of the dead after the Divine Liturgy. Graves are sometimes blessed on this day with a memorial picnic meal at the cemetary.

EEEW! :p

Remind me not to eat at Alex's house.

Dave

Dear Dave,

Since having my wisdom tooth out, I won't be eating solid foods until Pascha . . .

Talk about a forced fast . . .

I certainly wouldn't crush pussy-willows into my baking flour.

But there are those who do .

So never say never . . .

A blessed Pascha!

Alex