Dear Friends,

Our Episcopal Church along with our Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Eastern Orthodox brethren has attempted to bring back the ancient tradition of making the Great Vigil of Easter on Saturday evening the first and most important service of Easter Day (like Christmas Eve).   In most churches that I have served, many people have come to love this service, even though it may be long if Baptism and Confirmations are part of it. The most joyful and wonderful experiences have been when two or there parishes can get together to plan it and have a bishop present for the service. In New York City, my church (Good Shepherd) teamed up with Transfiguration and Incarnation parishes so we could have a full choir, a bishop, candidates for baptism, confirmation and a full church. Maybe your new rector can get one of our bishops to come next year and make it our largest attended Easter service. This year those of you who want to come with me will participate with the Church of the Redeemer in this beautiful service (beginning at 5 PM). You must remember that in Jewish tradition the new day did not begin at midnight, but at sunset. For the early church, Easter Eve was the ideal time for new converts and families to be baptized and confirmed as Christians; to begin their new lives in the church on the day Christ was raised by God from death, vindicating his ministry of love and forgiveness as God’s anointed Messiah.

The service starts with the lighting of the New Fire (Agios Theos). This goes back to very ancient times (documented in 162 AD) when the Patriarch of Jerusalem would enter the Edicule, the tomb where Jesus was buried (now a free-standing chapel inside Constantine’s Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem) which had been sealed shut with wax. He would (and still does today) await the miracle of Holy Fire. All the crowd outside waits in darkness until the Patriarch shouts “Christ is risen,” and appears with candles, lit from the miraculous fire. Everyone else lights their candles from his, passing the light throughout Jerusalem, and sending it by messenger to the rest of the Christendom. Today, in the Orthodox church, messengers take the light by airplane to Greece, Russia, the Balkans, etc.

In the West, we also begin our liturgy by lighting new fire and from it a paschal candle symbolizing the risen Christ. We bless new water in the font with the candle, then we carry it into the church singing “The Light of Christ” with the response “Thanks be to God.” Next, the deacon sings a wonderful song called the Exultet, traditionally ascribed to St. Ambrose in the mid 300’s. The words recall the Biblical symbol of the pillar of fire which led the children of Israel through the Red Sea to the promised land and similar deliverances. The largest paschal candle recorded was 36 feet tall in Salisbury Cathedral during the middle ages. From the candle, all lights in the church and candles of the congregation are lit. Vigil lessons recall the mighty acts of God, from creation to Jesus’ resurrection, catechumens are baptized and confirmed by the Bishop and, with shouts of joy and ringing of bells, the Eucharist of Easter begins and Christ banquets with us in his new kingdom, renewing his pledge to us of everlasting life.

Since we will not be having an Easter Vigil here, our morning services will begin with a brief ceremony of lighting and blessing the Paschal candle (Prayer Book, page 284) The priest will sing, “The light of Christ” and people will respond, “Thanks be to God.”  (Hymnal S68). Instead of the peace we will shout “Alleluia, Christ is risen” with the answer “Christ is risen indeed, alleluia,” and also “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and giving life to those in the tomb” (Prayer Book, page 500). That is the Orthodox tropairan sung in Greek and Russian churches. Another difference in the Easter service is that even though we do not have a baptism, we will reaffirm our baptismal promises in place of saying the creed (Prayer Book, page 292). Another ancient Christian custom is for a deacon or the priest to sing a special “Alleluia” after the Epistle reading, this is found in our hymnal #570. The people will repeat it back again. It is my fervent hope and prayer that as we reenact the events of Holy Week together it will become a powerful reality in our lives today and not just a charming story from long ago. I believe the words of the old spiritual “If you don’t bear the cross, then you can’t wear the crown.” Or if you prefer something more English and traditional listen to the words of George Herbert’s poetry:

Since we will not be having an Easter Vigil here, our morning services will begin with a brief ceremony of lighting and blessing the Paschal candle (Prayer Book, page 284) The priest will sing, “The light of Christ” and people will respond, “Thanks be to God.”

(Hymnal S68). Instead of the peace we will shout “Alleluia, Christ is risen” with the answer “Christ is risen indeed, alleluia,” and also “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and giving life to those in the tomb” (Prayer Book, page 500). That is the Orthodox tropairan sung in Greek and Russian churches. Another difference in the Easter service is that even though we do not have a baptism, we will reaffirm our baptismal promises in place of saying the creed (Prayer Book, page 292). Another ancient Christian custom is for a deacon or the priest to sing a special “Alleluia” after the Epistle reading, this is found in our hymnal #570. The people will repeat it back again. It is my fervent hope and prayer that as we reenact the events of Holy Week together it will become a powerful reality in our lives today and not just a charming story from long ago. I believe the words of the old spiritual “If you don’t bear the cross, then you can’t wear the crown.” Or if you prefer something more English and traditional listen to the words of George Herbert’s poetry:

The Sun arising in the East,

Though he gives light, and th’ East perfume;

If they should offer to contest

With thy arising, they presume.
 

Can there be any day but this,

Though many suns to shine endeavor?

We count three hundred, but we miss.

There is but one, and that one ever!

 

Yours in Christ,

The Rev. Dr. Tom Bauer