Paschal Season

Bright week is the name given to the week following the Resurrection of our Lord. For Orthodox Christians, Bright Week begins a period of celebration that continues for 50 days until Pentecost 🌿One of my favorite aspects of Paschaltide is how we joyously greeting each other. We greet each other with “Christ is risen” followed by “indeed He is risen” or “truly He is risen”! I feel a spark of joy every time I hear it! The joy and the feast continues!!!

There are some notable changes that happen during Bright Week + the Paschal season:

✨The services of Bright Week are done with the Royal Doors fully open (the doors in the middle). This unblocked view of the altar symbolizes the open door of Christ's empty tomb as well as the ripped veil of the Jewish Temple, which was torn apart at the moment Christ died

✨During bright week there is not the usual Wednesday/Friday fasting... it’s a fast free week! In some places this fast free period is extended 40 days to continue the joyous feast!

✨ We don’t kneel or make prostrations in Church or in our private prayers at home from Pascha through Pentecost (this year, June 4th). Kneeling is a posture of repentance and sorrow, so during this season we are proclaiming Christ’s victory over sin and death and His resurrection, even with our posture!

✨ During Bright Week, our normal prayer rules are altered. The standard Morning and Evening Prayers should be replaced with the Paschal Hours. The prayers are brief, beautiful, and full of elements taken from the Paschal services. It is intended that praying the Paschal Hours are to give one a respite from the longer prayers normally prayed!

✨ From Pascha until Pentecost, the prayer "O Heavenly King," is not said either in the Church or in our private prayers at home. Jesus taught that He must leave so that the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, can come (John 16:7). The removal of this familiar prayer from the cycle of the services emphasizes the importance of the descent of the Holy Spirit that we celebrate at Holy Pentecost.

Continuing the Paschal Joy!
Making Changes to your Environment

During the Paschal season, just like we do during lent, consider making changes to your environment that echo what is going on liturgically. The liturgical colors for Pascha are bright/white/colorful and often red (like red eggs). Consider adding elements to your home to remind you and your family of this joyous season. Here are some ideas:

✨Display any of your paschal decorations you have throughout the home - Pascha basket cover, Pysanky eggs, pretty tablecloth and centerpiece, consider bringing nature indoors by having fresh flowers or greenery throughout your home for the 40 days of Pascha.

✨ Display the icon of the Resurrection or Harrowing of Hades in a prominent place in your home

✨ If you have a chalkboard or white board, write “Christ is Risen!” on it!

✨ Consider the outside of your home - a garden flag with He is Risen, or a festive wreath for your door, or a decorative egg, so every time you come home and see it, you are reminded as well!

There are many ways to do this, and there is no right way! These are just some ideas to inspire you to sprinkle some Paschal joy within the walls of your home.

The Post-Paschal Slump

It’s very common for those of us who have participated in the Lenten services and the fast, and particularly immersed ourselves in Holy Week to experience a Paschal slump. The absence of services can feel strange. We long to be together, which I would argue is a very good thing! At times there can be a sadness that seeps in as we long for more. We have endured many hardships together, as a community, that have brought us through the sorrow of our Lord’s passion, and ultimately to joy of the Resurrection of our Lord. We are already missing it all. Lent and Holy Week are an amazing opportunity to re-orient ourselves to how we ought to be living our lives, completely and totally focused on Christ. Don’t lose heart, dear friends, and don’t give into despair! Instead, find ways to hold on to the Grace we have been given and keep it with you as long as you can. Even if our service schedules have slowed down, we can continue to cultivate this joy in our homes and in our communities. Here are some ideas to help you preserve the joy:

Invite friends over to continue the feast - be social! Now that our schedules are not as full, we can continue to cultivate these relationships with one another. Be hospitable and welcome others into your homes, or out to dinner or coffee or ice cream! Feast together! Community life is vital to living the Christian life!

Attend any services that are offered Now that you have immersed yourselves during Lent, use that as a springboard to immerse yourselves in the life of the church on a weekly basis. Prioritize making it to week day services and Great Vespers or Vigil on Saturday evenings, in addition to Sunday morning. This was one of the single most impactful things for me as I leaned into the liturgical life of the Church - attending on a weekly basis, outside of sunday mornings.

For the next 40 days, greet everyone with Christ is Risen! And when you say your hellos and goodbyes, tell them again, Christ is risen! The back and forth of these responses reminds us that we are in the Paschal season and helps us continue the joy!

Cultivate a family culture - I’m a big advocate for the importance of cultivating a Christian home and family culture. Each home is a Little Church. I’ll share a few things that we are doing this season to help inspire you to create your own family culture:

We begin all our prayers with singing “Christ is Risen”
We made changes to our environment to help visually remind us of this season (display the icon of the resurrection, centerpiece on the table, pussy willow and palm crosses in our prayer corner, paschal egg display, etc).
We also listen to the liturgy or paschal songs at home (via Youtube or Spotify).
During Bright Week, we pray the Paschal Hours instead of our morning and evening prayers and begin each prayer time with singing “Christ is risen”. Singing together as a family is also a wonderful way to bond using these important hymns.
Eat your meals together at the table. Read the lives of the saints or a bible story together during one meal time a day!

As Orthodox Christians, we fall down often, but what’s most important is we quickly get back up! So if you find yourself stuck in a rut, pick yourself up QUICKLY and begin again! Christ is Risen! Our joy is complete! Let us continue to enjoy the Paschal season, continuing on in our journey towards Christ’s Ascension!