INTRODUCTION TO THE GREAT WEEK IN THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
In worship we encounter the living God. Through worship He makes himself present and active in our time, drawing the particles and moments of our life into the realm of redemption. He bestows upon us the Holy Spirit, who makes real the promise of Jesus to be in the midst of those gathered in His name. In our ecclesial assemblies, therefore, we do more than remember past events and recall future promises. We experience the Risen Christ, who is "clothed with his past and future acts," as someone has noted. Thus all that is past and all that is future are made present in the course of our liturgical celebrations.
PASCHA, which commemorates the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the oldest, most venerable and preeminent Feast of the Church. It is the great Christian festival, the very center and the heart of the Orthodox Liturgical year.
Jesus' passion, death and resurrection constitute the essence of His redemptive work. The narrative of these salvific actions of the Incarnate Son of God formed the oldest part of the Gospel tradition. The solemn celebrations of Great Week and pascha are centered upon these events. The divine services of the Week, crafted long ago in continuity with the experience, tradition and faith of the first Christians, help us perpetuate and celebrate the mystery of our Salvation.
Orthodox theology views Christ as the Resurrected One. Even in the midst of the darkest days of the Week were we celebrate the Passion and Death of the God-Man, we detect resurrectional themes and the anticipation of celebrating the Resurrection on Pascha. This is why the term xarmolypi, joyous-sorrow, can be rightly applied to this week.
Easter is NOT the title of this feast as it is of pagan origin celebrating the renewal of life in the spring time. Easter conjures up the easter bunny and is sure to become as commercialized as Christmas has been. PASCHA is the title of the Feast of Feasts.
The Church's day, reflecting the Jewish heritage of the liturgical life of the Church, begins at sundown with the Vespers along with Orthros at the rising of the sun. Beginning on Palm Sunday evening we go into a 12 hour time shift. For example, the Service of the Bridegroom on Palm Sunday evening is actually the Orthros (Morning) service of Holy Monday. There are several reasons for this shift. One is that the Pre-Sanctified Liturgy which is proper to be celebrated in the evening of the first part of the week were moved into the morning hours to accommodate the pious tradition that the Holy Eucharist was to be distributed in the morning. As well meaning as these traditions have been they have also served to confuse the faithful as to the sequence of the services of the Great Week (especially with respect to the services of Great Friday and Great Saturday). Another reason was the restrictions placed on the Orthodox Christians who were under domination by the Ottoman Turks. The movement of Christians was thus curtailed and the shift was an attempt to bring the most important services to the people. This accomodation has become tradition and has (in some cases, unfortuantely) remained to this day.
The Date of Pascha: The decisions of the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in 325 determined that Pascha will be celebrated 1) The First Sunday 2) after the First Full Moon 3) After the Spring Equinox (March 21). (and in a commentary by one of the Church's Canonists- after the Jewish Passover). The Orthodox Paschalion (Paschal Calendar) is based on the Julian Calendar which is approximately 13-14 days behind the Gregorian Calendar (which is the calendar in use today). Thus March 21 in the Julian Calendar is April 4 in the Gregorian Calendar. In 1998. The first full moon after April 4 is April 12. Therefore the first Sunday following on which we will celebrate Pascha is April 19. The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (under which the Greek Archdiocese is founded) currently uses the Gregorian or New Calendar in the celebration of fixed feasts and on the movable feasts which depend on the date of Pascha, the Julian.
Disclaimer: This personal project started off as a brief synopsis of the Holy and Great Week and expanded. It is continually being updated. I apologize for any errors I may make.
The Glory is God's.
The comments on these pages are from Fr. A.C. Calivas' Book GREAT WEEK AND PASCHA IN THE GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH published by Holy Cross Press which is a compilation of the lectures we received as first-year Theology students at Holy Cross School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts
Most of the icons on these pages are from the Catalog published by Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Brookline, Masschusetts. (Clicking on their name will take you to their web site)
The English translations of hymns are taken from The Services of Holy Week and Easter published by Narthex Press(Fathers Spencer Kezios and Leonidas Contos) and Holy Week and Easter by Patmos Press (Fr. George Papadeas)
Saturday of Lazarus Palm Sunday Great Monday Great Tuesday
Great Wednesday Great Thursday Great Friday Great Saturday