Why Pascha Isn't Just One Day
"Hurry up and take down the Christmas tree, Christmas was yesterday". "We've had our nice Easter dinner, let's put away all our Easter stuff since we have work and school tomorrow." In our modern world, these are common phrases we hear when Christmas day and Easter Sunday come to their conclusion.
In the Orthodox Church however, we take a very different approach to these incredible feast days (and many other important feast days in our Church). With both Christmas and Easter (aka Pascha) we fast to prepare ourselves for them by a 40-day fasting period to truly be able to celebrate it properly. Upon celebrating both of them we bask in the beauty and wonder of these critical moments in Christ's life for a number of days afterwards concluding with what is known as the leave-taking.
Take Pascha for example as it is the center of our Christian faith. We fast for 40 days before Holy Week, then have the 6 intense days of Holy Week concluding with Great and Holy Pascha. During the Paschal season we have Bright Week (no fasting), another 32 days of light fasting (total of 40), then the leave-taking of Pascha. Immediately after Pascha, we have the feast of the Ascension and a few days later, Holy Pentecost (which has another week of no fasting).
You may be wondering why this matters? It matters because we have lost the ability to celebrate in our Western consumeristic world. If we feast each and every day, with delicious meats and cheeses. If we continually have entertainment pumped into our eyes and ears. If we constantly have ample time to kick up our feet and take things easy. If we 'celebrate' constantly then we never really celebrate. There is nothing special about Easter if we eat the same foods, see the same people, do the same activities we did the days before it and after it. This is why so many people are happy to rush back to normal life after Christmas and Easter; they don't mean anything because they aren't unique or special any way. They are just the same as any other day exception we get to indulge in consumerism a bit more (Christmas) or we get gorge on a bit more candy (Easter).
In Orthodox Christianity we invite a different way of life; a life that allows us to reclaim the ability to celebrate these (and many other) critical celebrations of our faith. For anyone who has converted to Orthodoxy, your first serious journey through Great Lent, Holy Week and arrival at Holy Pascha will probably be something like you have never experienced before. Having denied yourself and made the long journey to Pascha you will probably experience a new sense of awe and gratitude. Having not tasted meat or cheese for that amount of time, the first few bites of a cheeseburger, piece of bacon, pizza or whatever you want will be truly celebratory and wonderful. The arduous path of repentance and self-denial will give way to unexplainable joy and gratitude as the hymns of the Church focus on the love and victory of our Lord.
Orthodoxy is about changing the very structure our life, the very way we live and operate, so that we can orient our entire life towards our Lord. The Church, by the grace of God working within it, works on changing our whole personhood; body, soul and mind. The liturgical life of the Church with its fasts and feasts restore a dynamic reality to our life that gives our shape and character, rather than just blandly being the same thing each and every day. It gives us seasons of growth and opens the door to change our life in the most fundamental ways to experience God uniquely rather than just plodding along in our ruts. As I like to say "Orthodox gets into our personal life so that Christ can change us".
As we enter into this beautiful season of life, light and joy don't be in a rush to go back to 'normal' life. Relish the reality that our Lord has conquered sin, death and the devil. Rejoice that eternal life is opened to all people by His Resurrection. Share the gratitude and love that you received from our Lord with those around you.
Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!
In Christ,
Fr. Steve
PS: If you really want to 'geek' out on the full Paschal fasting and feasting periods, see THIS.
"Hurry up and take down the Christmas tree, Christmas was yesterday". "We've had our nice Easter dinner, let's put away all our Easter stuff since we have work and school tomorrow." In our modern world, these are common phrases we hear when Christmas day and Easter Sunday come to their conclusion.
In the Orthodox Church however, we take a very different approach to these incredible feast days (and many other important feast days in our Church). With both Christmas and Easter (aka Pascha) we fast to prepare ourselves for them by a 40-day fasting period to truly be able to celebrate it properly. Upon celebrating both of them we bask in the beauty and wonder of these critical moments in Christ's life for a number of days afterwards concluding with what is known as the leave-taking.
Take Pascha for example as it is the center of our Christian faith. We fast for 40 days before Holy Week, then have the 6 intense days of Holy Week concluding with Great and Holy Pascha. During the Paschal season we have Bright Week (no fasting), another 32 days of light fasting (total of 40), then the leave-taking of Pascha. Immediately after Pascha, we have the feast of the Ascension and a few days later, Holy Pentecost (which has another week of no fasting).
You may be wondering why this matters? It matters because we have lost the ability to celebrate in our Western consumeristic world. If we feast each and every day, with delicious meats and cheeses. If we continually have entertainment pumped into our eyes and ears. If we constantly have ample time to kick up our feet and take things easy. If we 'celebrate' constantly then we never really celebrate. There is nothing special about Easter if we eat the same foods, see the same people, do the same activities we did the days before it and after it. This is why so many people are happy to rush back to normal life after Christmas and Easter; they don't mean anything because they aren't unique or special any way. They are just the same as any other day exception we get to indulge in consumerism a bit more (Christmas) or we get gorge on a bit more candy (Easter).
In Orthodox Christianity we invite a different way of life; a life that allows us to reclaim the ability to celebrate these (and many other) critical celebrations of our faith. For anyone who has converted to Orthodoxy, your first serious journey through Great Lent, Holy Week and arrival at Holy Pascha will probably be something like you have never experienced before. Having denied yourself and made the long journey to Pascha you will probably experience a new sense of awe and gratitude. Having not tasted meat or cheese for that amount of time, the first few bites of a cheeseburger, piece of bacon, pizza or whatever you want will be truly celebratory and wonderful. The arduous path of repentance and self-denial will give way to unexplainable joy and gratitude as the hymns of the Church focus on the love and victory of our Lord.
Orthodoxy is about changing the very structure our life, the very way we live and operate, so that we can orient our entire life towards our Lord. The Church, by the grace of God working within it, works on changing our whole personhood; body, soul and mind. The liturgical life of the Church with its fasts and feasts restore a dynamic reality to our life that gives our shape and character, rather than just blandly being the same thing each and every day. It gives us seasons of growth and opens the door to change our life in the most fundamental ways to experience God uniquely rather than just plodding along in our ruts. As I like to say "Orthodox gets into our personal life so that Christ can change us".
As we enter into this beautiful season of life, light and joy don't be in a rush to go back to 'normal' life. Relish the reality that our Lord has conquered sin, death and the devil. Rejoice that eternal life is opened to all people by His Resurrection. Share the gratitude and love that you received from our Lord with those around you.
Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!
In Christ,
Fr. Steve
PS: If you really want to 'geek' out on the full Paschal fasting and feasting periods, see THIS.
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