Easter

It’s been an interesting experience celebrating holidays in a different country…good interesting, not bad interesting, however. This past Sunday we celebrated Orthodox Easter–one week later than Protestant Easter. I met one of my students and some of his friends at 10:30pm on Saturday night, and we walked to the big Orthodox church about 15 minutes away. When we arrived there were cars everywhere and people everywhere. At first, we went inside, where there are tons of beautiful icons and fresco-like things painted on the walls and ceilings, and found a good place to stand. (In Orthodox churches outside of America, there are no seats or pews. Everyone stands throughout the entire liturgy. I don’t know how the old ladies do it!) People kept piling inside, and it was getting rather tight, so we decided to join the rest of the congregants outside.

There was a video screen for the people outside to see what was happening inside. We stood and listened and watched. The whole thing was quite beautiful—different men church leaders chanting scriptures and prayers, women and men singing responses, people moving around with incense and prayers blessing different things. It’s a beauty often left out of Protestant churches and services. And then, at midnight came the climax of the service. A procession of deacons led by the patriarch, I believe, followed by other church leaders and congregants marched out of the church to bells marking the beginning of Resurrection Sunday. When they made it outside they did a giant loop around the congregation, and there was definitely a spirit of celebration about the crowd.

Then the procession reached the steps of the church and the patriarch swung the thing of incense around and said “He is risen!” and we said “He is risen indeed!” This went on a number of times before he went to the front doors of the church, knocked on them, the doors were open (in a way symbolizing the opening of the tomb), and he entered the church building followed still by the procession. It was truly a beautiful service, and I’m truly glad to have experienced it. It makes me think about the way we often celebrate these kinds of holidays in America.

We left shortly after and followed the crowd out. The lady I was following, as she was holding a candle, accidently lit her hair on fire. It didn’t burn too much, but it was kind of funny.

So happy Easter to you! Here’s to the one who, rather than taking up arms took up a cross to defeat evil and bring us life. Here’s to the one who, rather than bearing a sword bore our shame. Here’s to the one who died a seemingly foolish death defying the kingdom of the world’s ideas of success and victory. For as we know and find undeniable hope in, his death was not his defeat; it was death’s defeat. And we thank him for defeating death, which festers inside of all of us, without arms but with his own blood. And we know that the grave did not hold him, nor shall it hold us to whom he offers that great gift of victory.

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

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