Easter! Both Western and Eastern Rites together

boojum

boojum

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At last night's Greek Orthodox Midnight Mass it closed with "Christos Anesthi!" - "Christ Has Risen!" This is traditional. And then the congregation lights candles in the pitch dark church and it is flooded with candle light. Then a feast of lamb stew, Magiritsa which not just anybody is allowed to make for this event, the Paschal Lamb. (This is the warm-up act after midnight Mass. Made from lamb offal, rice, and lots of dill, it’s finished with avgolemono (egg-lemon sauce) for richness and zing. It’s not for the squeamish, but it’s sacred to many, and honestly? It’s oddly comforting at 1 a.m. in church clothes.) That is Easter in spades. The Russian Orthodox have similar dramatic services I am told. Easter is bigger than Christmas. And the Ukrainians who once were Orthodox and are now Western, celebrate it grandly, too. A pre-Christian tradition they have is Pysanki, the gorgeous dyed eggshells. It is a very complex process of beeswax coated eggshells with various areas scratched free of beeswax, dyed, rewaxed and so on until the eggshell is done.

This Pysanki was done by master Pysanki maker Tymothy James Bates who once lived in Naselle, WA. A kind and gifted man of quiet humble demeanor and just a really nice guy. But, one of his eggs. This one is a duck's egg. He loved doing tiny wild bird eggs because the thin shells made them such a challenge. You do not meet many Tymothy James's in life.

NB - I have been to the day Easter Service at the Greek Orthodox church in San Jose, CA. It is very dramatic, the Eastern rite has a second altar behind the main altar and there is a lot of movement, chanting and praying. The mass is very dramatic and lasts about four hours. Red dyed eggs are prevalent and on the way out after the service you kiss the icon, a painting. This was during the AIDS crisis. I kissed the icon as did the congregation. I guess it was safe. ;o)

Q1000504 by West Phalia, on Flickr​
 
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boojum said:
At last night's Greek Orthodox Midnight Mass it closed with "Christos Anesthi!" - "Christ Has Risen!" This is traditional. And then the congregation lights candles in the pitch dark church and it is flooded with candle light. Then a feast of lamb stew, Magiritsa which not just anybody is allowed to make for this event, the Paschal Lamb. (This is the warm-up act after midnight Mass. Made from lamb offal, rice, and lots of dill, it’s finished with avgolemono (egg-lemon sauce) for richness and zing. It’s not for the squeamish, but it’s sacred to many, and honestly? It’s oddly comforting at 1 a.m. in church clothes.) That is Easter in spades. The Russian Orthodox have similar dramatic services I am told. Easter is bigger than Christmas. And the Ukrainians who once were Orthodox and are now Western, celebrate it grandly, too. A pre-Christian tradition they have is Pysanki, the gorgeous dyed eggshells. It is a very complex process of beeswax coated eggshells with various areas scratched free of beeswax, dyed, rewaxed and so on until the eggshell is done.

This Pysanki was done by master Pysanki maker Tymothy James Bates who once lived in Naselle, WA. A kind and gifted man of quiet humble demeanor and just a really nice guy. But, one of his eggs. This one is a duck's egg. He loved doing tiny wild bird eggs because the thin shells made them such a challenge. You do not meet many Tymothy James's in life.

NB - I have been to the day Easter Service at the Greek Orthodox church in San Jose, CA. It is very dramatic, the Eastern rite has a second altar behind the main altar and there is a lot of movement, chanting and praying. The mass is very dramatic and lasts about four hours. Red dyed eggs are prevalent and on the way out after the service you kiss the icon, a painting. This was during the AIDS crisis. I kissed the icon as did the congregation. I guess it was safe. ;o)

Q1000504 by West Phalia, on Flickr​
Click to expand...
hey, that egg guy is quite the artist!
 
boojum said:
At last night's Greek Orthodox Midnight Mass it closed with "Christos Anesthi!" - "Christ Has Risen!" This is traditional. And then the congregation lights candles in the pitch dark church and it is flooded with candle light. Then a feast of lamb stew, Magiritsa which not just anybody is allowed to make for this event, the Paschal Lamb. (This is the warm-up act after midnight Mass. Made from lamb offal, rice, and lots of dill, it’s finished with avgolemono (egg-lemon sauce) for richness and zing. It’s not for the squeamish, but it’s sacred to many, and honestly? It’s oddly comforting at 1 a.m. in church clothes.) That is Easter in spades. The Russian Orthodox have similar dramatic services I am told. Easter is bigger than Christmas. And the Ukrainians who once were Orthodox and are now Western, celebrate it grandly, too. A pre-Christian tradition they have is Pysanki, the gorgeous dyed eggshells. It is a very complex process of beeswax coated eggshells with various areas scratched free of beeswax, dyed, rewaxed and so on until the eggshell is done.

This Pysanki was done by master Pysanki maker Tymothy James Bates who once lived in Naselle, WA. A kind and gifted man of quiet humble demeanor and just a really nice guy. But, one of his eggs. This one is a duck's egg. He loved doing tiny wild bird eggs because the thin shells made them such a challenge. You do not meet many Tymothy James's in life.

NB - I have been to the day Easter Service at the Greek Orthodox church in San Jose, CA. It is very dramatic, the Eastern rite has a second altar behind the main altar and there is a lot of movement, chanting and praying. The mass is very dramatic and lasts about four hours. Red dyed eggs are prevalent and on the way out after the service you kiss the icon, a painting. This was during the AIDS crisis. I kissed the icon as did the congregation. I guess it was safe. ;o)

Q1000504 by West Phalia, on Flickr​
Click to expand...
This egg is a real work of art.
In Greece we tend to hit one red egg against another in a quest to find the one that managed to stay "un-cracked".

250419201011_avga.jpg
But if you want to try a typical Eastern Balkan dish for Easter, you can try kokoretsi - lamp awfals tied together by intestines and roasted on a spit. Google it for more info 👍
 
Some might take issue with the statement “Ukrainians, who once were Orthodox….” Yes, some are Byzantine Catholic or Baptist, but millions are still Orthodox.

Basil, a Greek Orthodox chanter
 
Bbsteinle said:
Some might take issue with the statement “Ukrainians, who once were Orthodox….” Yes, some are Byzantine Catholic or Baptist, but millions are still Orthodox.

Basil, a Greek Orthodox chanter
Click to expand...

I understand that in protest against Russia that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church had separated from the Russian one and while still Orthodox was no longer part of the Russian Orthodox group and no longer on the old calendar. I did not mean to suggest that they no longer embraced the Orthodox Rite. To the best of my knowledge Ukraine is still in the Orthodox Rite just not the Russian Church and pontiff. Is this correct? Let me know if I am wrong. Chant it if you care to. IIRC the incantation that "Christ Has Risen" is by a basso profundo and impressive and awakening. It is the Easter Mass. It is the promise of Christianity.
 
boojum said:
I understand that in protest against Russia that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church had separated from the Russian one and while still Orthodox was no longer part of the Russian Orthodox group and no longer on the old calendar. I did not mean to suggest that they no longer embraced the Orthodox Rite. To the best of my knowledge Ukraine is still in the Orthodox Rite just not the Russian Church and pontiff. Is this correct? Let me know if I am wrong. Chant it if you care to. IIRC the incantation that "Christ Has Risen" is by a basso profundo and impressive and awakening. It is the Easter Mass. It is the promise of Christianity.
Click to expand...
A few years ago, the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople (Istanbul) recognized a breakaway group in Ukraine as the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine.” This caused a rupture in communion between Moscow (still the supporting the original “Ukrainian Orthodox Church”) and Constantinople. This may have been a secondary cause of the present Ukrainian-Russian conflict.
 
Bbsteinle said:
A few years ago, the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople (Istanbul) recognized a breakaway group in Ukraine as the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine.” This caused a rupture in communion between Moscow (still the supporting the original “Ukrainian Orthodox Church”) and Constantinople. This may have been a secondary cause of the present Ukrainian-Russian conflict.
Click to expand...

Thank you for that. It is complex. The services of the Orthodox Churches are impressive. As I said, I have been to a Greek Orthodox Easter Service and seen video clips of other Orthodox services. The Eastern and Western rites are very different. But they both have St. John who, I believe, said that there is but one way so there is agreement on that.
 
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