This is a gorgeous picture from Pascha that I stole off of a friend’s Facebook. I would just like to point out that this is where we go to church 🙂 My favorite parts are all the bible stories written on the walls- you could show a kid all of salvation history just by showing up!
Favorite Pascha Music
Here are some of some of my favorite Pascha Songs that we sung last night/morning. Yes, it’s kinda rinky dink, I couldn’t find a good version on Youtube so I just used my own camera to record the songs off of my computer. Sorry, I don’t know enough about technology to do this an easier way. If you would like the MP3 files, I can send them to you.
My absolute favorite: This one is about Mary (The Theotokos).
God-Child #2
As I explained in a previous post, we were asked to be god-parents on Wednesday.
On Saturday morning, 7:50 am, I got to meet our new god-daughter, Lola Magdalena. She is five years old (six on June 3rd!) and was accompanied by her older brother George (7), and younger sisters Sophia (4) and Lily (1). Their parents, Lori (Nona) and Ron (Gregory), were also getting received into the Church, along with over a dozen others (21 total). This large number might be typical for St. Barnabas, but not for St. Seraphim (since we do Chrismations year-round). In fact, I think it was the largest group they’ve ever had at one time.
I was able to talk with Lola for only a few minutes before the service began. Lola was standing near to her sister Sophia with Katie and I right behind them. And the baptisms started. There were only two that were hard, one was Lily, who Courtney was holding until she started to scream (most babies don’t like being dunked!). Another was a 10 year old boy who literally was DRAGGED, kicking and screaming all the way. Jesse joked that the exorcism they do BEFORE the baptism apparently didn’t take.
Lola and Sophia were jumping up and down and clasping their hands together the whole time, saying, “Oh boy oh boy!” They were not getting baptized, however, much to their chagrin, since they already had in the Catholic church (the whole family were convert Catholics). They were also trying to blow out the candles that Katie and I were holding for them, saying, “Let’s make a wish!”
Their excitement only grew as the ceremony progressed. I got to put the tiny little cross on her and watch her admire it. Later on, as they were cutting the hairs of everyone, Sophia misheard the word “tonsure” and instead thought that Fr. John said, “torture”. Her eyes got wide and she said, “Lola, is it your turn to get tortured with the scissors?”
After they cut Lola’s hair, I bent down and explained to her that this was her very first offering to God and that there would be many more. She proceeded to take the little packet full of her hairs, put it in her palms, and, extending her arms to the altar she said, “Here you go, Lord!”
Later that night at Pascha, I got to wake her up for her first communion. Most of the kids are, at this time, in the back asleep in sleeping bags (what fun to be an Orthodox child and get to have one huge sleepover in the back of the church every Pascha!). I showed her how to cross her arms across her chest, right over left, and told her to open her mouth wide when it was her turn. She was pretty apprehensive at the end, which might have had to do with being woken up 5 minutes prior, but did a great job. Afterwards she turned to me and said, “That did NOT taste good.”
This was nothing, however, to screaming crying kid. Earlier, when they tried to take the newly illumined males back into the altar, he simply would not go. He was in hysterics, scratching and flailing at his godmother who was with him the door of the altar. He was the same way when he went to take communion later. He even kicked a couple of the other kids right in the face as he was being carried by his godmother.
However, there were a lot of newly-illumined kids who were VERY pious, so much so that it’s almost scary, and very humbling. There is one family who was received who had two little boys. The dad, Josh (the mom’s name is Heather, so we refer to this family as “the NEW Josh and Heather”!) is really into mixed martial arts. The little boy, who chose St. Seraphim as his saint, was getting bullied on the playground recently at school. When his parents asked him what he did, he said to them, “Well, I just asked myself, ‘What would St. Seraphim do?’ So I turned the other cheek and let them be mean.” This was why he chose St. Seraphim as his saint- if you ever see an icon of St. Seraphim, he is hunched over because he was beat up by robbers in the woods. Instead of fighting back, he let the robbers beat him nearly to death with his own axe. When they caught the robbers, he even pleaded the judge for mercy on their behalf.
Another incredibly pious child is 7 year old George, Lola’s brother. He was absolutely ADAMANT that his patron saint be Saint George because of how brave he was. In case you are not familiar with the icon, it looks like this:
As he was getting ready for the Eucharist in the back of the church, he clasped his hands together and said softly, “Finally, communion, after all these years!!”
At Pascha, we got to give Lola her icon of St. Mary Magdalene. We explained to her that Mary is holding the red Pascha egg because she is the one who started the tradition of red Pascha eggs. The story goes that once Jesus had risen from the dead, Mary Magdalene went to Pilate to explain what had happened. She picked up an egg to help explain his resurrection. Pilate said that Jesus couldn’t have risen from the dead, anymore than the egg could turn red. The egg immediately turned red, and so the tradition began! As soon as we gave Lola her icon, she clasped it to her chest and wouldn’t let go.
Here are a few pictures of that I got Lola Magdalena and her siblings when they weren’t stuffing their faces with Marshmallow Peeps and frosted cookies from their Easter baskets (sugar crash, anyone?). I have yet to get a picture of Lily, as she was home asleep with her mom by this point in the night/morning.
Glorious Pascha #3!
Christ is Risen! Glorious Pascha!
This post might contain some of the giddy grogginess that I currently feel, seeing as I just spent 36 hours in church this weekend. I never once thought I’d say that, but it’s true. We loved every minute of it- in fact, on the way home (at 6am!) Jesse said, “If my body were stronger I wish we could have Pascha every weekend!”
This Pascha definitely felt more glorious than the last. I can’t say it was better than our first Pascha, because our first Pascha will always be special. That first year at St. Barnabas, our eyes were like childrens’- suddenly we realized firsthand that this was going to be unlike any Easter we had ever experienced. In the past, I never remembered that Easter was coming until Palm Sunday. It was always a sort of “wakeup” call, like, “Oh yeah! I should really check my calendar more”. And Easter Sunday was always over and done before I knew it. But there was always the long break from school to make me grateful for the holiday.
This isn’t to say I didn’t appreciate what Easter is and what it celebrates. I was very aware of the fact that Christ died on the cross and that His resurrection meant we could spend eternity in heaven. I wouldn’t say, however, that I ever “experienced” Easter with anything other than my mind.
It’s hard to explain Pascha if you haven’t been to one. It really is, and I’m not just saying that. There is SO MUCH packed into such a short amount of time (haha, and we were only at around half of the services!) that it’s hard to summarize. All of Holy Week is dedicated to following Jesus to the cross, one step at a time. Every morning there is Divine Liturgy and every evening there is 2 hour Bridegroom Matins (Christ as the Bridegroom coming to claim his Bride the Church) . Normally, Matins occur in the Morning, but they are done in the evening to show that because Christ is about to be crucified, all of time is out of whack. They are also done at night in accordance with the parable of the Bridegroom who came to the 10 women suddenly, in the middle of the night. All of the gospel readings and choir music are chalk full of Old Testament Readings and how Jesus’ death was needed. In general, Monday was about the sterile fig tree, Tuesday, about the parable of the vigilant virgins who were ready for the Lord (Matt. 22:14). Wednesday, about the sinful woman who repents by wiping Jesus’ feet with her hair. She is celebrated in opposition to Judas, who SHOULD have been faithful.
Thursday was when things really began to heat up. Both the Liturgy and the Vigil in the evening were dedicated to celebrating the Lord’s Supper and to mourn his death. At the Vigil on Thursday evening (which was 4+hours long!) we all held candles and knelt as we listened to the Passion Story being read in 3 of the 4 gospels.
Friday at 3pm there was a funeral bier set up in the middle of the church, decorated with flowers and funeral lamps. We held a funeral service, and then at 6:30 began the Vigil where we lit candles once again and followed the shroud with the figure of Christ on it around the church, singing. I’m sure we must have looked like quite the sight to Oaklawn traffic passing by!
It was here that I decided to sign Jesse and I up for an hour slot at the all-night Vigil. When I say, “all-night”, I mean all-night. This is one of my favorite traditions of the Orthodox church. We simply took sign-ups to have people reading the Psalms at the tomb of Jesus all night. This is to be in contrast with the disciples who fell asleep. Jesse and I had the 12am-1am slot. I thought that it was going to be a long hour, but it SERIOUSLY felt like 20 minutes. Jesse and I took turns (I was really worried about getting hoarse from all the singing). I started by just reading them, but Jesse encouraged me to try chanting and so I did 🙂 It was a wonderful hour, praying peacefully by the tomb of Christ.
And then Saturday morning, 8am. We, along with the Trants, Gaspards and Unruhs became godparents once again. This takes a post of its own, for this was an awesome ceremony, and the kids were downright hilarious. After that, we celebrated the Divine Vespers/Liturgy which last until about 1. From there, we went with the Unruhs to Chipotle for our last meal before the Pascha feast. Typically, if able, you’re not supposed to eat at all in between the 2 services. Most people are unable to fast for this long and still make it through all the services, so the priest said that if you were going to eat, make sure to do it right away.
After Chipotle, Jesse and I went to Central Market to get a few things for our Pascha Basket.
Jesse and I, having experienced the extreme fatigue one can experience during the final Divine Liturgy, took a 6 hour nap. Jesse joked that the nap was more sleep than he had had at night for the past few days, since he had a paper due Thursday and a huge Greek exam on Friday (yay for Catholic Universities kicking it into high gear the week after their Easter!).
And then, glorious Pascha. We started out, lights COMPLETELY out except for our small music stand lights in the choir. We sang slow, sad songs, until it was time for the procession. We all lit candles and processed behind the cross around the church three times, singing,
“Thy Resurrection O Christ our Saviour, the angels in heaven sing, and do thou enable us here on Earth, to glorify thee with pure hearts.”
As we came back around to the church on the third time, hundreds of people in tow, Archbishop Dmitri knocked on the door three times. Then we entered the church singing, “Christ is Risen from the grave, trampling down death by death! And upon those in the tombs bestowing life!” as LOUD as we could, as though our very lives depended on it. It was thundering, just picture hundreds of people in a cathedral, singing/shouting this as loud as they possibly can. I couldn’t even hear our choir director who was 2 feet away from me!
And boy was the church glorious! All the lights were on, the funeral bier was gone, the cathedral chandelier was blazing- so gorgeous.
From there we proceeded to the Divine Liturgy, which had most of the music replaced with different versions of “Christ is Risen”, in a bunch of languages that I really had no idea how to pronounce. I ended up either humming or at least trying to mouth some of the words of the different languages. I think I actually sang the Spanish and the Russian ones- those were easy. The rest…ever tried to sing Hungarian?
When we had finished around 3am, we proceeded over to the church hall and the priests blessed all of our Easter baskets. We headed upstairds with the Unruhs and found a kiddie table over in the corner to claim as our own. The smell of Demetrios grilling in the corner was wonderful. But it wasn’t as wonderful as this:
Michael made Mac N Cheese squared, in imitation of the BEST macaroni and cheese ever at the Yardhouse, complete with real apple-smoked bacon and truffle oil! OMG, it was the best. We ate and ate and ate, until suddenly, I felt very naseous (which I suddenly remembered, happened last year too, as my stomach started screaming, “This isn’t rice and beans! What are you doing?) But it quickly passed and I was able to continue eating, thank the Lord :). There was also food downstairs including an icecream-sundae-bar (of which I didn’t partake of until we were leaving). It wasn’t nearly the full-0n production that St. Barnabas has, which is something I miss. St. Seraphim’s tradition rests more on the individuals bringing their own rotisserie chickens and burgers. There is still tons of sharing that occurs- Jesse had to finish off a bottle of “Salvation” whiskey- but it is not nearly the party that St. Barnabas has. Perhaps we can implement that here in Dallas! I’d be kind of scared, though, to see what would happen when the Russians started dancing…
Finally, at 5:30am, Jesse and I dragged ourselves to the car and drove home.
Thank you, glorious Pascha, for coming to us once again this year!
Christ is Risen!
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