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The prototype of Pascha
is the Jewish Passover, the festival of Israel's deliverance from
bondage. Like the Old Testament Passover, Pascha is a festival of
deliverance. But its nature is wholly other and unique, of which the
Passover is only a prefigurement. Pascha involves the ultimate
redemption, i.e., the deliverance and liberation of all humanity from
the malignant power of Satan and death, through the death and
resurrection of Christ. Pascha is the feast of universal redemption. Our
earliest sources for the annual celebration of the Christian Pascha come
to us from the second century.[3] The feast, however, must have
originated in the apostolic period. It would be difficult, if not
impossible, to imagine otherwise. The first Christians were Jews and
obviously conscious of the Jewish festal calendar. They scarcely could
have forgotten that the remarkable and compelling events of Christ's
death, burial and resurrection had occurred at a time in which the
annual Passover was being observed. These Christians could not have
failed to project the events of the passion and the resurrection of
Christ on the Jewish festal calendar, nor would they have failed to
connect and impose their faith on the annual observance of the Jewish
Passover.[4] St. Paul seems to indicate as much when writing to the
Corinthians, "purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump,
since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was
sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven,
nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened
bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Cor 5.7-8).[5]
The early Church rejoiced in the event of the Resurrection. The new and
principal day of worship of the Christians was the first day of the
Jewish week, i.e., the day in which the Lord was raised from the dead.
They assembled on that day[6] to celebrate the Eucharist, through which
they proclaimed the Lord's death and confessed his resurrection.[7]
Eventually they gave this day a Christian name, the Day of the Lord (Rev
1.10). It would be hard to imagine that the Christians of the first
century would not have projected and connected in some new and
significant way their weekly celebration of the sacred events of
Christ's death and resurrection on the annual observance of the
Passover.
Another point of interest in this connection is the emergence of the
paschal fast and vigil. According to the earliest documents, Pascha is
described as a nocturnal celebration with a long vigil, that was
preceded by a fast.[8] This suggests a connection with the Jewish rites
of the Passover, even though there is a distinct difference of faith and
rite between the Jewish and Christian observance. One such difference
centers on the time of the celebration. The Jewish rite was an evening
meal that ended at midnight while the Christian festival consisted of a
long vigil that ended in the early dawn. It may well be that this delay
was intentional, in order to distinguish the Christian night from the
Jewish. Furthermore, the delay symbolized the fulfillment of the
Passover by Christ, and thus signaled the transition from the old to the
new Pascha. It has been suggested that this particular feature of the
Paschal night prompted the persistent demand, which we encounter early
on, that the Christian Pascha must come after the Jewish Passover.[9]
According to the chronology of the Gospel of John, the Lord was
crucified and buried on the day before the Passover and rose the day
after.[10] In the year we have come to number 33 A.D., the Passover fell
on a Saturday. The crucifixion, therefore, occurred on Friday, while the
resurrection happened early Sunday morning.[11] Eventually, the
celebration of Pascha in the early Church would be predicated upon this
chronology.
In the beginning, the Christian Pascha was the occasion for the
remembrance of the entire work of redemption, with a special reference
to the Cross and the Resurrection. By the second century the churches of
Asia Minor had come to observe Pascha on the 14 of Nisan, the day on
which the Lord was crucified, while all the other churches observed
Pascha on the Sunday after the 14 of Nisan, emphasizing the
resurrection.[12] These two ways of computing the date of
Pascha gave rise to the Paschal controversies of the second century. At
the beginning of the third century, these disputes were settled in favor
of the Sunday observance of Pascha. However, difficulties with
inadequate calendars continued to plague the local churches, until the
issue was finally resolved by the First Ecumenical Synod of Nicea in 325
A.D. The Fathers of the Synod decreed that henceforth Pascha was to be
celebrated on the first Sunday, after the first full moon of the spring
equinox. The Synod, also, determined that the date would be calculated
in accordance with the Alexandrian calendar. The Orthodox Church
continues to maintain this order.[13]
In the early Church, according to local custom, the celebration of
Pascha was preceded by a one or two day fast. In a letter written to
Pope Victor regarding the Paschal disputes, St. Irenaios (+ ca. 200)
makes mention of the fasting practices that were being observed in his
time by various local churches. He wrote, "for the controversy is not
only concerning the day, but also concerning the very manner of the
fast. For some think that they should fast one day, others two, yet
others more; some moreover, count their day as consisting of forty hours
day and night. And this variety in its observance has not originated in
our time; but long before in that of our ancestors."[14]
It is clear from this testimony that fasting had become an integral
element of the Paschal observance from the apostolic period. It probably
came about as a result of the words of the Lord, "can the wedding guests
mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when
the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast" (Mt
9.15). The Paschal fast, mournful in nature, came to honor the
Bridegroom of the Church, who was taken away, crucified, and buried.
The original one or two day fast was expanded by many local churches to
include the whole week before Pascha.[15] This process began in the
third century. During the course of the fourth century the week long
fast had become a universal practice, and the week itself came to be
known as "Holy and Great."
The one week fast was increased still further by another development:
the formation of the forty day period of the Great Fast or Lent.[16]
Lent represents the maximum expansion of the paschal fast. Though linked
to the six day fast of the Great Week, the Lenten fast is separate and
distinct from it.[17]
The celebrations of the Great Week developed gradually and in stages.
The chronology of the sacred events of the serial aspects of the passion
and the resurrection, as recorded in the Gospel of John, would affect
the development of the last three days of the Week (Thursday, Friday and
Saturday); while the sayings of the Lord and the events in His life
immediately preceding the passion, as recorded in the Synoptic Gospels,
would affect the development of the first three days of the Week
(Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday). In a subsequent development, the
chronology of events pertaining to the raising of Lazaros and the
triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, according to the Gospel of
John, would bring about the configuration of a two day festival (the
Saturday of Lazaros and the Sunday of Palms) immediately preceding the
Great Week. These two festal days anticipate the joy and the victory of
the resurrection, and bridge the Great Fast with the Great Week.
The single liturgical event commemorating Christ's death and
resurrection expanded very early "as a result of a more historically
oriented approach and a more representational type of presentation" of
the Paschal mystery.[18] Each aspect of the mystery was broken down,
emphasized ritually, and assigned to the day of the week in which it had
occurred.
Thus Great Week was born. The crucifixion, burial and resurrection of
Christ, together with the event of the Mystical Supper, constituted the
very heart and center of the Great Week. The solemn celebration of these
events began on Thursday evening and ended on the early dawn of Sunday.
During the course of the fourth century a process was set in motion by
which the solemnities of the Week would be further enhanced and
elaborated.
NOTES:
1. The term Pascha is the Hellenized form of the Jewish word pesach, (or
Phaska), which means passage or passover. It does not derive from the
Greek verb, “to suffer”, as some, like the ancient writer Meliton of
Sardis, have thought. Meliton was inclined to associate the word Pascha
with the verb pavscw, because, like his fellow Christians of Asia Minor,
he was a Quartodeciman (literally a Fourteenthist). In the second
century the churches of Asia Minor had come to relate the celebration of
Pascha above all to the passion and death of Christ rather than to his
resurrection. That is why they observed Pascha on the 14 day of Nisan,
i.e., the day on which Christ was crucified (see below).
2. See Bishop Demetrios Trakatellis, Authority and Passion (Brookline,
1987); and Raymond E. Brown, The Birth of the Messiah (New York, 1977).
Note, e.g., the Apostle Peter's sermon at Pentecost (Acts 2.22-28) and
his defense before the Council (Acts 5.29-32). Note also the
commemoration in the Anaphora of the Divine Liturgies of St. Basil and
St. John Chrysostom.
3. The earliest evidence is found in The Letter of the Apostles (ca. 150
A.D.). Written originally in Greek, it survives only in Coptic and
Ethiopian translations. See Edgar Hennecke, New Testament Apocrypha
(London, 1963), pp. 190-91.
4. See Thomas J. Talley, The Origins of the Liturgical Year (New York,
1986), p. 2. See also J. G. Davies, Holy Week: A Short History
(Richmond, 1974). A. A. McArthur, The Evolution of the Christian Year
(London, 1953). A. G. Mortimort, ed., The Church at Prayer 4
(Collegeville, 1986).
5. The Jews used unleavened bread at the Passover. It was their custom
to remove all yeast from their homes on the day before the Passover (the
14th day of Nisan). They ate unleavened bread (azymes) during the
Passover festival (Exodus 12.1-20, and 13.3-10). See Anthony J.
Saldarini, Jesus and Passover (New York, 1984), pp. 10, 34-36. See also
D. Doikos,(Thessalonike,1986) and E. Antoniades.
6. According to Jewish reckoning, each new day begins at sundown. It can
be established that the primitive Church assembled on Saturday night for
the celebration of the Eucharist, following closely the Jewish pattern.
Sacred meals were essentially supper meals related to the beginning of
the day at evening. The eucharistic synaxis, like the Mystical (Last)
Supper, was originally connected to a supper meal. This arrangement
lasted at least until the end of the first or the early part of the
second century, when for various reasons the original evening
eucharistic synaxis was transferred first to the pre-dawn hours
and later to the "third" hour of the day. For a discussion on the whole
range of problems, issues and aspects pertaining to the time of the
celebration of the Divine Liturgy in the worship of the Orthodox Church
see A. Calivas, (Analecta Vlatadon, 37, Thessalonike, 1982).
7. 1 Cor 11.23-26. See also the Anaphora of the Divine Liturgy of St.
Basil.
8. See, e.g., The Letter of the Apostles , 15: "After my return to the
Father you will celebrate the memory of my death ... and (I) will come
to you and join in the night vigil with you, and stay near you until
cockcrow. When you then have ended your agape, the memorial of me which
you make . . ." See New Testament Apocrypha, p. 199.
9. See T. J. Talley, The Origins of the Liturgical Year, p. 6.
10. See L. Sabourin, :Easter in the Early Church,: Religious Studies
Bulletin 2 1 (1982)23-25. Veselin Kesich, The Gospel Image of Christ
(Crestwood, 1972), pp. 56-60.
11. We do not know the exact time of the resurrection. It happened at
some point in the early morning hours of Sunday, the first day of the
week. The Gospels only make reference to the time the first witnesses to
the resurrection arrived at the empty tomb. Matthew tells us it was
"toward the dawn" (28.1); Mark says it was "very early" (16.2); Luke
says it was "early dawn" (24.1); John tells us it was "early, while it
was still dark" (20.1).
12. According to Jewish custom, the Passover began on the evening of the
14th day of the first month, i.e., Nisan. The 14th of Nisan was the day
of preparation for the Passover. The paschal lambs were slaughtered in
the afternoon of that day in anticipation of the festival, which began
at sundown. Since, in accordance to Jewish practice, each new day begins
at sunset, the 15 of Nisan was the first day of the Passover. Jesus was
resurrected after the first day of the Passover.
13. For a fuller discussion on the date of Pascha see A. Calivas, "The
Date of Pascha: The Need to Continue the Debate," The Greek Orthodox
Theological Review 3514 (1990) 333-43. According to the decree of the
First Ecumenical Synod, the date of Pascha can only occur on a Sunday
between March 22 and April 25. However, due to the discrepancy that
exists in the Orthodox Church today because of the use of two calendars,
the Julian (Old) and the Gregorian (New), the dates
of March 22 and April 25 are superimposed on the new calendar. (March 22
in the New calendar reads April 3, while April 25 reads May 8. This
reflects the 13 day difference between the two calendars.) In this way
all Orthodox Christians celebrate Pascha on the same day, but not on the
same date.
14. Quoted by Eusebios, in his Ecclesiastical History, 5, 24, 12-17.
According to ancient custom and practice, the faithful consumed only one
frugal meal in the afternoon during fast days. The Great Week fast was
observed by all with great solemnity. The length and the severity of the
fast depended on local usage. In time, fasting practices would be
influenced greatly by the monastic experience. For a discussion on the
practice of fasting, see The Lenten Triodion, trans. Mother Mary and
Kallistos Ware (London, 1978), pp. 28-37. C. Enisleides, (Athens, 1969).
J. F. Wimmer, Fasting in the New Testament (New York, 1982).
15. See Dionysios of Alexandria, Letter to Basileiades, PG 10.1273-76.
16. The Great Fast with its rich liturgical material developed over a
long period of time. Two practices in the early Church were especially
significant in its development. The one pertained to the preparation of
catechumens for baptism and the other to the reconciliation of lapsed
Christians to the Church Both practices were related to the Paschal
feast.
17. The forty day fast developed along different lines in the East and
the West. For most of the East the two fast periods, though related,
were separate and distinct. In the Western tradition, however, the forty
days include the six day fast of Holy Week. The Great Fast seeks to make
the Christian mindful of his her dependence on God. It prepares each
person for the worthy celebration of Pascha by calling all to repentance
and to a deeper conversion of the heart. The Great Fast finds its
completion in the solemn celebrations of the Great Week. For an
excellent study on the formation and development of the Great Fast see
Evangelos Theodorou,(Athens, 1958). See also A. Schmemann, Great Lent
(Crestwood, 1974); and Archimandrite Kallistos, (1934).
18. Adolf Adam, The Liturgical Year (New York, 1981), English
translation by M. J. O'Connell, p. 63.
*Copyright: 1992
*Source: *Great Week and Pascha in the Greek Orthodox Church
*Editor: *Holy Cross Orthodox Press
© 2003 Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
www.goarch.org <http: www.goarch.org>
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