What does Easter mean? Church service - Easter Liturgy
Easter- celebrated on the first Sunday after the March full moon following the spring equinox (between April 4 and May 8). And any Sunday day can fall into this period, it all depends on which of these days the first resurrection after the spring equinox and full moon falls on.
Easter or Holy Resurrection of Christ- the main holiday of the Orthodox calendar, established in memory of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Gospels tell us that on Friday of Holy Week, Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross and buried in a cave located not far from the place of execution. On the night from Saturday to Sunday, Mary Magdalene, a sinner who believed in Christ, and two women who came to the tomb to wash and anoint the body of Christ with incense discovered that the tomb was empty. “When they were perplexed about this, two men suddenly appeared before them in shining clothes. And when they were afraid and bowed their faces to the ground, they said to them, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:4-5). The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is considered by all Christians to be the greatest event that brings salvation to the world and humanity.
The day of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ received its name from the Jewish holiday of Passover, dedicated to the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and their liberation from slavery. The borrowing of the name of the Jewish holiday is explained by the fact that all the tragic events of the earthly life of Jesus Christ occurred before the Jewish Passover, and His Resurrection took place on the night of Passover.
In the Orthodox tradition, Easter is considered the “king of days,” “the holiday of all holidays, the triumph of all celebrations.” Throughout Russia, Easter was celebrated as a day of great joy. The main event of the celebration was the solemn service in the temple. The Easter service began on the night from Saturday to Sunday. Its first part was called the Midnight Office. It was held in memory of the night prayer of Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, which preceded his betrayal into the hands of the Pharisees. After reading prayers and chants, the priest, together with the clergy, brought the shroud from the middle of the temple to the altar, which remained there until the Ascension. At midnight, the bell ringing (blagovest) was heard, all the candles and chandeliers were lit at the same time, the priests in light vestments, with a cross, lamps and incense came out of the altar and, together with everyone present in the temple, sang the surplice: “Thy Resurrection, O Christ the Savior, the angels sing on heaven, and grant us on earth to glorify You with a pure heart,” and then, to the sound of bells, a religious procession around the church began. Upon returning to the temple, the priest sang the troparion of the holiday: “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death.” Then the royal gates opened, which symbolized Christ’s opening of the gates of heaven, closed to people after the fall of Adam and Eve, and matins began. The canon was fulfilled: “Resurrection day, let us enlighten people...”, and then the eternal victory of Christ over death and hell was proclaimed: “Where is your sting, O death? Where the hell is your victory? Christ is risen, and you are cast down. Christ is risen, and life lives. Christ is risen, and not one is dead in the tomb.” After Matins, the festive liturgy began, at the end of which the artos - special bread with the image of a cross and a crown of thorns - was illuminated.
The elegant decoration of the temple, a lot of lit wax candles, the light vestments of the priests, the smell of incense, the joyful ringing of bells, festive chants, a solemn religious procession, cries of “Christ is Risen!” - all this caused joy in believers, a feeling of participation in a miracle. After the end of the service, the parishioners congratulated each other on the bright holiday, kissed three times and said the words that the apostles said to each other after learning about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ: “Christ is Risen!” - “Truly he is risen!”, they exchanged eggs painted red.
On Easter, breaking the fast began after a long period of Lent. As a rule, it was a family meal. On the table covered with a white tablecloth, they placed colored eggs, kulich - tall bread made from butter dough and Easter (paska) - a sweet dish made from cottage cheese with raisins, consecrated in the church on Holy Saturday. The red egg, in the minds of an Orthodox person, symbolized the world, stained with the blood of Jesus Christ and through this being reborn to new life. Kulich was associated with the body of the Lord, to which believers should partake.
The Easter table has no food restrictions. In addition to the ritual Easter, Easter cake and eggs, there can be any meat, dairy, or fish dishes on the table. The Easter table, just like the funeral table of forty days, is set for the whole day, and everyone who comes to the house is invited by the owners to receive a treat. The owners tried to please as much as they could. It was believed that Easter dishes, consecrated by church prayer, have supernatural power and can help Orthodox Christians in difficult moments of life.
On Easter it was customary to congratulate everyone you knew. Subsequently, in addition to the most necessary visits, they began to limit themselves to Easter greeting cards.
There are many different beliefs associated with the Easter holiday, with the miraculous fulfillment of desires. It was believed that on this day one could ensure success in business for the whole year.
In many places, any entertainment on Easter day: secular songs, dancing, playing the harmonica, drinking, etc. - were considered by the people as indecency and a great sin. In the Russian North and Siberia, on the first day of the holiday, peasants tried to avoid all pleasures, sat at home, spending time eating, drinking and resting. Going to visit neighbors on this day was either generally considered indecent, or began only in the evening - “from puberty.” The main celebration, the beginning of youth festivities - “games”, took place on the next day of the holiday, which was replete with entertainment. But often the holy part of the holiday was separated from the riotous Easter prayers, going around the houses of parishioners in a religious procession: the priest, accompanied by the clergy and “god-bearers” - peasants with church icons and crosses in their hands.
According to legend, on Easter the sun sparkles early in the morning, thereby sharing the joy of the great holiday with people.
On this day we observed nature and noted:
On Easter, young people climbed onto the roofs to meet the sun (there was a belief that on Easter “the sun is playing,” and many tried to watch for this moment).
There was such a sign: if a dog barks to the east during Easter Matins - to the fire, to the west - to misfortune.
During Easter Matins, the housewives observed: which cattle at this time lie still - those go to the yard. At the same time, peasant women drove chickens from their roost so that the chickens would not be lazy, but would get up earlier and lay more eggs.
On Easter, the sky is clear and the sun is shining - for a good harvest and a red summer.
During Holy Week the rains are good rye.
On Holy Thunder - to the harvest.
If there is rain or bad weather on the first day of Easter, spring will be rainy.
If the weather is clear on the second day of Easter, the summer will be rainy; if it is cloudy, it will be dry.
Easter calendar: in 2015 - April 12, in 2016 - May 1, in 2017 - April 16, in 2018 - April 8, in 2019 - April 28, in 2020 - April 19, and so on...
The continuation of Easter was Easter (bright) week, which lasted eight days, until St. Thomas Sunday inclusive.
Today is an Orthodox church holiday:
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The holiday of the Holy Resurrection of Christ, Easter, is the main event of the year for Orthodox Christians and the largest Orthodox holiday. Celebrated on the first Sunday after the first spring full moon (between March 22/April 4 and April 25/May 8). In 2011, Easter is celebrated on April 24 (April 11, old style).
This is the oldest holiday of the Christian Church, which was established and celebrated already in apostolic times. The ancient church, under the name of Easter, combined two memories - of suffering and of the Resurrection of Christ and dedicated the days preceding and following the Resurrection to its celebration. To designate both parts of the holiday, special names were used - Easter of Suffering, or Easter of the Cross and Easter of the Resurrection.
The word “Easter” comes from the Greek language and means “passing”, “deliverance”, that is, the holiday of the Resurrection of Christ means the passage from death to life and from earth to heaven.
In the first centuries of Christianity, Easter was celebrated in different churches at different times. In the East, in the churches of Asia Minor, it was celebrated on the 14th day of Nisan (according to our account, March - April), no matter what day of the week this date fell on. The Western Church celebrated it on the first Sunday after the spring full moon. An attempt to establish agreement between the churches on this issue was made under Saint Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, in the middle of the 2nd century. The First Ecumenical Council of 325 determined that Easter should be celebrated everywhere at the same time. The council's definition of Easter has not reached us.
Since apostolic times, the church has celebrated Easter services at night. Like the ancient chosen people, who were awake on the night of their deliverance from Egyptian slavery, Christians are awake on the sacred, pre-festive and saving night of the Bright Resurrection of Christ. Shortly before midnight on Holy Saturday, the Midnight Office is served. The priest removes the Shroud from the coffin, brings it into the altar through the Royal Doors and places it on the throne, where it remains for forty days, until the Ascension of the Lord.
The procession of the cross, which takes place on Easter night, is a procession of the Church towards the risen Savior. The procession of the cross takes place three times around the temple with the continuous ringing of bells and the singing of “Thy Resurrection, O Christ the Savior, the angels sing in heaven, and grant us on earth to glorify Thee with a pure heart.” Having walked around the temple, the procession stops in front of the closed doors of the altar, as if at the entrance to the Holy Sepulcher. And the joyful news is heard: “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.” The doors open - and the entire sacred host solemnly enters the shining temple. The singing of the Easter canon begins.
At the end of Matins, the priest reads the famous “Word of St. John Chrysostom,” which describes the celebration and meaning of Easter. After the service, all those praying come up to the priest, who is holding a cross in his hands, kiss the cross and make Christ with him, and then with each other.
In some churches, immediately after Matins, the Bright Easter Liturgy is served, during which worshipers who fasted, confessed and received communion during Holy Week can receive communion again without confession, if no major sins have been committed during the intervening time.
After the service, since the fast is over, the worshipers usually break their fast (eat a light meal - not a fast meal) at the temple or in their homes.
Easter is celebrated for seven days, that is, the whole week, and therefore this week is called Bright Easter Week. Each day of the week is also called light; Bright Monday, Bright Tuesday, etc., and the last day, Bright Saturday. Divine services are held daily. The Royal Doors are open all week.
The entire period before the Ascension (40 days after Easter) is considered the Easter period and Orthodox Christians greet each other with the greeting “Christ is Risen!” and the answer “Truly He is Risen!”
The most common and integral symbols of Easter are colored eggs, Easter and Easter cake.
It has long been accepted that the first meal after a forty-day fast should be a colored egg blessed in the church. The tradition of painting eggs appeared a long time ago: boiled eggs are painted in a wide variety of colors and their combinations; some masters paint them by hand, depicting the faces of saints, churches and other attributes of this wonderful holiday. This is where the name “krashenka” or “pysanka” came from. It is customary to exchange them when meeting everyone you know.
Sweet cottage cheese Easter is always prepared for Easter. It is prepared on Thursday before the holiday, and consecrated on Sunday night.
Easter cake symbolizes how Christ ate bread with his disciples so that they would believe in his resurrection. Easter cake is baked from yeast dough in cylindrical shapes.
All Orthodox people sincerely believe in the special properties of Easter symbols and from year to year, adhering to the traditions of their ancestors, they decorate festive table exactly these dishes.
The material was prepared based on information from open sources
Pre-Christian Easter was considered a family holiday Jewish holiday nomadic pastoralists. On this day, a lamb was sacrificed to the Jewish God Yahweh, whose blood was smeared on the doors, and the meat was baked over a fire and quickly eaten with unleavened bread. Participants in the meal had to wear traveling clothes.Later, Easter began to be associated with the events set out in the Old Testament, the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. It is believed that the name of the holiday comes from the Hebrew verb “passover,” meaning “to pass.” The ritual of hastily eating meat began to symbolize readiness to escape. During the holiday, which was celebrated for 7 days, only unleavened bread was baked - this was due to the fact that before the exodus from Egypt, the Jews ate bread baked without the use of Egyptian leaven for 7 days.
The Last Supper took place precisely on the day of the Old Testament Passover, which Christ celebrated together with the apostles. However, he introduced new meaning in an ancient rite. Instead of a lamb, the Lord sacrificed himself, turning into the Divine Lamb. His subsequent death symbolized the atoning sacrifice at Passover. During the rite of the Eucharist introduced at the Last Supper, Christ invited believers to eat his body (bread) and drink his blood (wine).
In the first centuries of Christianity, a tradition arose to celebrate 2 Easters, symbolizing the death and resurrection of Christ. The first was spent in deep sorrow and strict fasting, and the second in rejoicing and with a rich meal. Only later was it decided to celebrate one Passover, separating it from the Jewish one.
Celebrating Easter today
The modern Christian holiday of Easter is based on the story of the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after the crucifixion. Now Easter has become a day that Christians devote to remembering the life, death and resurrection of the Savior. Originally in different places she was celebrated in different time. In 325, a decision was made by the First Ecumenical Council Christian Church celebrate Easter on the Sunday that comes after the first full moon of spring. This day falls between April 4 and May 8. However, the calculation of Easter dates in the Orthodox and Catholic Church happens in different ways. Therefore, Easter is often celebrated on different days in the Catholic calendar.Most of the Easter rituals have survived to this day, including the all-night vigil, procession of the cross, christening, dyeing eggs, preparing Easter cakes and Easter. Christening is an exchange of kisses, which is accompanied by the recitation of the traditional Easter greeting: “Christ is risen!” - “Truly risen!” At the same time, an exchange of colored eggs took place.
There are different versions of the origin of the tradition of dyeing eggs. According to one of them, chicken eggs Having fallen to the ground, they turned into drops of the blood of the crucified Christ. The tears of the Mother of God, sobbing at the foot of the cross, fell on these blood-red eggs, leaving beautiful patterns on them. When Christ was taken down from the cross, believers collected and divided these eggs among themselves, and upon hearing the joyful news of the Resurrection, they began to pass them on to each other.
Traditional Easter table dishes are Easter cake and cottage cheese. It is believed that before the crucifixion, Christ and his disciples ate unleavened bread, and after the Resurrection - leavened bread, i.e. yeast. It is symbolized by the Easter cake. Easter is made from pureed cottage cheese in the shape of a tetrahedral pyramid, personifying Golgotha - the mountain on which Jesus Christ was crucified.
Lesson notes. EASTER OF CHRIST (history of the holiday)
A story for children of senior preschool age.
talk about the customs and rituals associated with the holiday.
To develop the spiritual and moral potential of students.
Create motivation for the holiday through familiarity with its history, traditions, and customs.
Tasks: Introduce children to Orthodox holiday"Feast of Easter", with its history. Talk about the customs and rituals associated with the holiday. Arouse children's interest in folk culture. To cultivate patriotic feelings for the Orthodox traditions of the Russian people, for folk art
Progress of the lesson:
The history of Easter is a journey through millennia. Leafing through its pages, you can discover something new for yourself every time, because the history of the origin of Easter is an interweaving of traditions, beliefs and customs.
Let's go on such a journey! Do you agree?
Easter is the holiday of the Holy Resurrection of Christ. We joyfully celebrate Easter and sing: “Christ is risen!” We all unanimously answer: “He is truly risen!” Years pass in succession Under the azure skies. And the peoples everywhere sing: “He is truly risen!” There is joy and hugs everywhere: “Brother, sister, Christ is risen! Hell is destroyed, there is no damnation: 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 against evil.
The kings were afraid that Jesus Christ would himself become the ruler of the whole world. And they executed Him - crucified Him on the cross.
Jesus Christ was executed on Friday. At this time, the earth shook and stones fell from the cliffs and mountains. For people it was the saddest and most mournful day. Today this day is called GOOD FRIDAY.
After the execution, Christ's disciples removed his body from the cross and placed 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 reported the good news about the miraculous resurrection of Christ. Christ has risen, which means he has become 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: “This egg would sooner turn red than I would believe that Jesus has risen.”
The egg immediately turned red... Since then, the tradition of painting eggs for Easter has appeared.
The bright holiday of the Resurrection of Christ has its own traditions, customs, symbols and ancient rituals associated with them.
The Easter fire, the 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 lit fires to drive away winter and welcome spring faster. The Easter fire embodied the power of the hearth.
The Easter wreath is the personification of eternal life.
The egg symbolized the small miracle of birth. There are many customs with eggs. 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 oceans, seas.
On the holiday, egg fights at the Easter meal, or “clinking” eggs, as people say, are popular. This is a simple and fun game: someone holds an egg with the nose up, and the “opponent” hits it with the nose of another egg. The one whose shell is not cracked has won and continues to “clink glasses” with the other person.
The holiday lasted throughout Bright Week, the table remained set, people were invited to the table and treated, especially to those who could not or did not have such an opportunity.
Easter is the main holiday of the Christian calendar. It is not for nothing that it is called “the holiday of the holidays and the celebration of celebrations.”
Easter is the original holiday of the arrival of spring and the awakening of new life. About 3.5 thousand years ago, the Jews gave new meaning to the Canonian holiday of welcoming spring - on this day they also began to celebrate the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, described in the Old Testament. About 2 thousand years ago, Easter acquired another meaning; on this day Jesus Christ was resurrected.
On this day it is customary to say: “Christ is Risen!”, to which they answer “Truly He is Risen!”.
The name Passover comes from the Hebrew word "Pesach", which means "deliverance", "exodus", "mercy".
Easter date
In the Christian tradition, Easter is celebrated according to the lunisolar calendar, on the first Sunday after the spring full moon. Easter is always celebrated only on Sunday, but falls on different dates.
Lent precedes Easter
The celebration of Easter in Christianity is preceded by Lent- the longest and strictest period of abstinence from many types of food and entertainment.
Easter traditions
It is customary to celebrate the onset of Easter by placing on the table colored Easter cakes and Easter itself - this is the name given to a curd dish in the shape of a pyramid with a truncated top.
In addition, colored boiled eggs are a symbol of the holiday. According to ancient traditions, they were considered a symbol of life. The eggs are also associated with the legend of how Mary Magdalene presented an egg to Emperor Tiberius as a sign that Jesus Christ had risen. He said that this was impossible, just as an egg cannot suddenly turn from white to red, and the egg instantly turned red.
Since then, Christian believers have painted eggs red for Easter. Although Lately Most people paint eggs in any color or put stickers on them.
Although Easter is celebrated by Christians (Catholics and Orthodox) and Jews. Details of the celebration vary.
On Easter, believers often visit churches, illuminate Easter cakes and colored eggs.
Easter history of the holiday briefly.