Alleluia! Christ Is Risen!
In his famous hymn (Lutheran Service Book 487), St. John of Damascus called Easter “the queen of seasons.” And indeed it is! Because Easter is the Church’s primary celebration of Jesus’ triumphant victory over death!
On Easter we recall that early morning when the company of women went to the tomb in search of Jesus’ body. Instead of a closed tomb, they find it open and vacant. Two dazzling angels appear and greet the women with the good news: Jesus has fulfilled his promise that he must suffer, die, and on the third day rise again (Luke 24)!
Easter Day is the third and final day of the Paschal Triduum – the Latin term for the “three days” from Maundy Thursday evening until Easter Sunday evening. But it’s not the last day of Easter! The Octave of Easter comes to an end on the following Sunday (more on this below). But Easter isn’t over then, either! Rather, the Easter season lasts a full fifty days until the feast of Pentecost, more than counter-balancing the forty days of Lent.
Starting with Jesus’ resurrection, the Easter season is filled with the manifestation of Jesus’ divine glory. Throughout the fifty days, we hear of Jesus’ miracles and his encouragement to the disciples, whether it’s on the road to Emmaus, on the Mount of the Ascension, or in the upper room.
A Brief History
The holiday that we now know as “Easter” was originally called Pascha, the Greek word for Passover. Christians carried over the tradition of Pascha, acknowledging Christ as the new Passover Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7).
It’s not surprising, then, that Easter traditions sometimes echo Passover traditions; for example, the Jewish date of Passover was based on the lunar cycle, so the date of Easter moves according to the stages of the moon.
Similarly, just as Passover was an eight-day affair, so is Easter. The “Octave of Easter” is the name for the eight-day celebration of our Lord’s resurrection. The Church fathers saw in these eight days a symbol of new life and a new creation, as St. Gregory of Nazianzus said, “That one [Easter] brought salvation; this one [the octave] is the anniversary of the gift of salvation; that one marks the resurrection from the tomb; this one marks simply the second rebirth.” Since liturgical traditions often rhyme, the Church year has not one but four great octaves: Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, and Pentecost.
Easter traditionally begins at the Vigil on Saturday at sundown, the Jewish start of a new day. During the evening and night between Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday, the complex and symbolic Easter Vigil service is celebrated. One of the oldest and most historic services of the Church, the Easter Vigil can be traced to the first celebrations of Easter in the years immediately after Christ walked the earth and is now seen as a smorgasbord of traditions and customs that have been progressively added throughout the Church’s life.
Since it is the longest service of the entire year, there are simply too many important and historic practices within this special mass for us to mention them all in our post today. Because of this, we chose to highlight just a couple of aspects of the Easter Vigil to demonstrate how these customs appropriately mark the beginning of the Paschal celebration and represent the liturgical change from sorrow into joy and from Lent to Easter.
One of the most characteristic emblems of the Easter Vigil service is the bursting forth of light. This is often portrayed in two ways: bonfires and candles. The bonfire includes the blessing of a holy fire outside the church, a practice that can be traced back to the ninth century and is said to have originated with Saint Patrick’s consecration of a secular German tradition.
Lit before the service and marking the beginning of the Easter light, a bonfire outside the church is used to progressively light the candles of the church. In this gesture, the Paschal candle is first lit and etched with a series of symbols that mark the candle as a sign of the risen Christ. The Paschal candle then ignites the rest of the candles in the church as clergy and parishioners process into the building. The flames of the holy fire are then carried back to the homes of Christians to ignite their own household candles and lights, symbolizing the spreading joy of the forthcoming celebration.
It is after the procession that the Service of Readings begins. Consisting of twelve scriptural readings, the service starts with Creation and ends with Christ’s resurrection, as depicted during the Gospel reading of Mark 16:1-8. These portions of the Word are interspersed with prayers and collects that thematically accompany the readings. Christians today will often hear a shorter selection of these readings at their Easter Vigil service, although all twelve are officially part of the Vigil.
After the readings, the celebration of baptisms and confirmations commences. This marks both the end of the educational period of Lent that catechumens used as a preparatory period and their introduction to the body of Christ shortly before they will take part in the great and festive Easter Communion. It is also a symbol of Christ’s final exorcism of the powers of evil, as this service and rite parallel Christ’s descent into hell. It is from this connection that we get the question: “Do you renounce Satan?” and the response: “Yes, I renounce him,” and so on and so forth.
Once the baptisms and confirmations are complete, the rest of the mass proceeds with the recitation of the Litany. At the moment of the Gloria, the church’s bells start to toll, signifying the joyous cumulation of Lent and the mass’s seamless transition into the service of the sacrament. After the service, Christians typically begin their Easter celebrations in full force, breaking their Lenten fast and starting their observance of the Church’s most joyous season. The altar is re-decorated, and the Alleluias finally return. At dawn, Sunday morning services mark the first official day of Easter.
One of the characteristic moments of the Vigil service is when the celebrant cries out the Paschal Greeting: “Alleluia, Christ is Risen!” The people respond with joy: “He is risen indeed; Alleluia!” This greeting remains the customary Christian greeting throughout the fifty days of Easter.
Collect
Almighty God, who through Thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ, hast overcome death and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life: we humbly beseech Thee that, as Thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by Thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Three and the Holy Ghost: ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Lessons
Resources
Making Easter eggs is a classic tradition. Learn how to naturally dye Easter eggs in this post.
Melito of Sardis’s On Pascha is a must-read. Written in the second century, this lively, poetic, and profound early Christian reflection on the movement from death to life is a wonderful addition to your Easter traditions.
Issues, Etc. interview with the Rev. Will Weedon on The Liturgy of the Vigil of Easter
Propers found in Daily Divine Service Book: A Lutheran Daily Missal, edited by the Rev. Heath Curtis
References:
1. Gregory Nazianzen. Select Orations. Translated by Martha Pollard Vinson. Fathers of the Church, vol. 107. Catholic University of America Press. 2003.
Images:
1. The Resurrection, Albrecht Dürer, Germany, n.d.
2. The Resurrection, Sebastiano Ricci, Italy, 1715
[…] week, or the Octave of Easter, begins on Easter Sunday and concludes on Quasimodogeniti one Sunday later. For the first eight centuries or so […]