Pascha and Bright Monday

Christ is risen!!!

Well, Pascha was excellent. We got there in time to hear the last half of the book of Acts chanted before the Matins service. Then the procession around the church. This was my first non-windy Pascha. It was really nice not to have my candle go out three or four times beore making it around the building. (Someday, if God wills it, I will see the Holy Fire in the Tomb of the Holy Seplechre.) Then the Paschal Liturgy began.

The clergy and people of the Mission of the Synaxsis of the Theotokos joined us for all of the Holy Week services, and of course they were there for Pascha, too. I always get a kick out of the Eriteans who visit our parish. First of all, they wear clothes that can best be described as big sheets of gauze and secondly, they have big huge Crosses tatooed on their foreheads. I don't know the reason for the guaze but I have been told that the reason for the big Cross tatoos is so they can not deny Christ during persections.

Our lord BENJAMIN the Bishop of Berkely (Auxillary to our lord TIKHON the Bishop of San Francisco) presided over the Paschal Liturgy. He was assisted by the Archpriest Victor, the Priest Thomas, and the Priest David. There were also several subdeacons, readers, and acolytes (the youngest nodded off on his feet. It was funny.) helping out. The choir was was very good. There is a new soprano. I think she sings with the San Francisco Light Opera. She adds a lot to the choir.

This was my first time to actually witness the blessing of the eggs. (Note to my non-Orthodox readers: The reason there eggs are associated with the Resurection of Jesus has nothing to do with Babylonian fertility myths you might have heard about. The reason eggs are associated with the Ressurection celebration is because there was a time when all Christians did without them during Lent and only received a blessing to eat them again at Pascha.) I've always cut out right after Communion to help get the feast ready. But this year I stayed for the conclusion of the service. It was pretty neat.

Staying in the hotel wasn't as neat of an idea as I thought it would be. I couldn't get comfortable. It wasn't MY room. It wasn't MY bed. So, even though I got to bed at 4:45 Sunday morning, I woke up at 8:30 and couldn't get back to sleep. So, we all got up about 10:00, ate our Pascha basket goodies for breakfast, got dressed, checked out, and went for a walk down Union Street.

We stopped at Starbucks and had cofffe and read the paper. Then we walked up to the park on Gough Street; the little park next to the Octagon House. The big boy played with a couple of dogs. He had a lot of fun. Then at the appointed time we walked up Green Street to Holy Trinity for Agape Vespers.

I think Agape Vespers might be my favorite service of the whole year. After the hard work of Lent, the build-up of Holy Week, the excitement and exhaustion of Pascha, we come to Agape Vespers and just get to rest in the Love of Jesus. And wow, what a Gospel reading - I know a lot of people are concentrating on the fact that Thomas wanted proof before he would believe, but I was struck by the normal-ness of the events in that reading. It sounds like the stuff we have to face every day. I don't see Jesus, but I am confronted with a lot of people, rather not even the people but books by or about those people who claim to have seen him.

After Vespers we were confronted with something else. Something that has troubled me and my wife since. It was an evil confusion and we are praying about it. In a way, Agape Vespers was the perfect segue into being faced with that wickedness. God's love sustains, even in the middle of circumstances we can not understand. Agape Vespers strengthened us to withstand the horror. The Gospel of the risen Christ enabled us to love in hate-filled situation. Still, there is a troubledness, a confusion, and a sadness because of what we saw. I ask your prayers.

But thankfully, the night passed, Bright Monday is here. And with it the prayers we sing instead of the usual morning and evening prayers we say during the rest of the year. What joy!

So my dear readers, do you wonder what bright week is like? It is like a vacation. No fasting is allowed, not even for monks. No kneeling is allowed, not even during Confession. No prostrataions are allowed, not even when the Holy Spirit transforms the gifts into the Body and Blood of Jesus. No reading from the Old Testament is allowed, not even a Psalm. (Why would you read the invitation to the party while at the party?) All of our prayers during this week are sung, which is difficult if this is only your 4th Pascha and you don't know all of the tunes.

We went to a movie tonight. (You might think this is funny, but going to the movies is one of the ways my family celbrates the major feasts.) We saw Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It was a fun movie. Obviously, it was quite a bit different from the books I read when I was a teenager. And different from the BBC television series I saw part of before I read the books. But it was fun in a weird, funky, British-ish kind of way. It was by little boy's first movie. He had a good time.