Great and Holy Pascha: Agape Vespers

Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered, and let them that hate Him flee from before His face.

Today Christ, our saving Pascha, hath been revealed unto us a noble Pascha; the Pascha new and holy; the mystical Pascha; the Pascha all august; the blameless Pascha; the great Pascha; the Pascha of the faithful; the Pascha which openeth unto us the gates of paradise; the Pascha which sanctifieth all the faithful.

As smoke vanisheth, so let them vanish; as wax melteth before the fire.

O come from the vision, ye women, heralds of good tidings, and say ye unto Zion, Receive from us the glad tidings of the joy of the Resurrection of Christ. Rejoice, O Jerusalem, and leap for joy, in that thou beholdest Christ the King like a bridegroom come forth from the grave.

So let sinners perish at the presence of God, and let the righteous be glad.

When the ointment-bearing women stood, very early in the morning, before the tomb of the Life- giver, they found an angel sitting upon the stone. And he cried out unto them, saying: Why seek ye the Living among the dead? Why mourn ye the Incorruptible amidst corruption? Go, proclaim the glad tidings to His Disciples.

This is the day which the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad therein.

The joyful Pascha, the Pascha of the Lord, the Pascha all majestic hath shone upon us! The Pascha in which we embrace one another with joy! O what a Pascha, delivering from sorrow! For today from the tomb, as from a chamber Christ shone, and hath filled the women with joy, saying: Proclaim the glad tidings to the Apostles.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; both now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

Today is the Day of Resurrection! Let us shine with the Feast! Let us embrace one another. Let us say, Brethren! And because of the Resurrection, let us forgive all things to those who hate us, and in this wise, exclaim: Christ is risen from the dead; trampling Death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!

Great and Holy Pascha: Christ is Risen!

Thou did descend into the nether regions of earth, O Christ, and did shatter the eternal bars which held the prisoners captive; and like Jonah from the sea-monster, after three days Thou did rise from the grave.

Christ is risen from the dead.

Having kept the seals intact, Thou did rise from the grave, O Christ, Who did not violate the Virgin's womb by Thy birth, and Thou hast opened to us the gates of Paradise.

O my Savior, while as God Thou did voluntarily offer Thyself to the Father as an unslain and living sacrifice, Thou did raise up with Thyself the whole race of Adam, when Thou did rise from the grave.

Great and Holy Saturday

Let all mortal flesh keep silent and in fear and trembling stand, pondering nothing earthly-minded. For the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords comes to be slain, to give himself as food to the faithful.

Before him go the ranks of angels: all the principalities and powers, the many-eyed cherubim and the six-winged seraphim, covering their faces, singing the hymn: Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Great and Holy Friday

Today is suspended on a tree He who suspended the earth upon the waters.

The King of the angels is decked with a crown of thorns.

He who wraps the heavens in clouds is wrapped in the purple of mockery.

He who freed Adam in the Jordan is slapped on the face.

The Bridegroom of the Church is affixed to the Cross with nails.

The Son of the virgin is pierced by a spear.

We worship Thy passion, O Christ.

We worship Thy passion, O Christ.

We worship Thy passion, O Christ.

Show us also Thy glorious resurrection

Great and Holy Thursday

Receive me today, O Son of God,

as a partaker of Thy mystical Supper.

For I will not speak of Thy mystery to Thine enemies.

Neither will I give Thee a kiss as did Judas.

But as the thief I confess Thee:

O Lord, remember me in Your Kingdom.

Great and Holy Wednesday

O Lord God, the woman who had fallen into many sins, having perceived Thy divinity received the rank of ointment-bearer, offering Thee spices before Thy burial wailing and crying: "Woe is me, for the love of adultery and sin hath given me a dark and lightless night; accept the fountains of my tears O Thou Who drawest the waters of the sea by the clouds incline Thou to the sigh of my heart O Thou Who didst bend the heavens by Thine inapprehensible condescension; I will kiss Thy pure feet and I will wipe them with my tresses. I will kiss Thy feet Whose tread when it fell on the ears of Eve in Paradise dismayed her so that she did hide herself because of fear. Who then shall examine the multitude of my sin and the depth of Thy judgment? Wherefore, O my Saviour and the Deliverer of my soul turn not away from Thy handmaiden O Thou of boundless mercy."


-- Hymn of Kassiani, from Bridegroom Matins

Great and Holy Tuesday

I see Thy Bridal Chamber adorned,

O my Savior.

And I have no wedding garment, 

that I may enter therein. 

O Giver of Light, make radiant,

the vesture of my soul, and save me.

Great and Holy Monday

Behold, the Bridegroom cometh at midnight,

And blessed is he whom He shall find watching,

But unworthy is he whom He shall find heedless.

Beware, therefore, O my soul, do not be weighed down with sleep,

Lest you be given up to death and shut out of the Kingdom.

But rouse yourself crying: Holy, Holy, Holy, art Thou, O our God,

Through the Intercessions of the Theotokos have mercy on us.

-- Troparion of Bridegroom Matins