APR 28, 19 .. ORTHODOX EASTER SUNDAY 2019 .. CHRIST IS RISEN

How special is this!

Patti and I, in effect, have enjoyed two Easter Sundays here in Irkutsk, Russian Siberia.

Last Sunday, April 21st, was our Western Church Easter Sunday.

At the same time, last Sunday, April 21st, was Palm Sunday on the Orthodox Church calendar. Believe me when I state that last Sunday’s Orthodox Palm Sunday celebration was every bit as special and as magnificent as any of our Western Church Easter celebrations.

Today, Sunday, April 28th, is Orthodox Easter Sunday.

ХРИСТОС ВОСКРЄСЄ !  CHRIST IS RISEN ! 

We have two, call them our ‘local’ Russian Orthodox Churches.

The top red balloon points to Holy Trinity Church.  The center red balloon points to our building. The bottom red balloon points to (are you ready? ) the Kharlampiyevskaya Mikhaylo-Arkhangel’skaya Tserkov Church.

The Holy Trinity Church.

A look at the interior of the Holy Trinity Church.

The Kharlampiyevskaya Mikhaylo-Arkhangel’skaya Tserkov Church.

Interior photos of the Kharlampiyevskaya Mikhaylo-Arkhangel’skaya Tserkov Church.

You will note above and below that, from service to service, the church landscape changes.

A look at a few Russian Orthodox Easter Eggs.

Some other Easter delicacies.

The time has come to talk about today, Orthodox Easter Sunday 2019.

You have to keep-in-mind that I don’t really have a clue about the Russian Orthodox Religion with all of its rich history and complex traditions. But I am learning. For instance, because of Good Friday when I went to our local church to take part in a Good Friday service only to find that there was no Good Friday service, I will realize that Easter services in the Western Church will often be on different dates than Easter services in the Orthodox Church.

Odd! I already knew that Christmas was celebrated on different dates. I just didn’t take that knowledge forward to Easter services.

So this morning, Orthodox Easter Sunday morning 2019, I arose, ate breakfast, prepared a modest Easter Basket for Patti (who sleeps late) and off up the street at 10:30am I went to The Holy Trinity Church.

What?

Nothing!  Yes, there were a few people (maybe twenty) spread out inside the church, but nothing was going on let alone some amazing, magnificent, Orthodox Easter Sunday service.

As I was leaving The Holy Trinity Church, an Orthodox Priest (who spoke a little English) stopped me. We engaged in some small talk. Where am I from? etc. Then he pressed a small Easter Egg into my palm. I tried to push it back to him but he would have none of that! He said, “Boiled!” I nodded and spun the egg on a donation canister to show him I knew how to tell if an egg was boiled. He smiled an enormously warm smile, we shook hands, and I left with the Easter Egg.

Then an odd thought came into my mind.

“I wonder if the Orthodox Church does an early morning sunrise service?”

Back to our flat I walked. Patti was up.

I told Patti that there was absolutely nothing happening on Easter Sunday at The Holy Trinity Church.

Patti then said to me : “Did you hear the church bells down the street last night at 12 o’clock midnight? They went absolutely crazy and they went on and on and on!”

Hm-m-m! I said to Patti do you suppose they celebrate Easter at 12 o’clock midnight?

Then I went online.

https://www.russlandjournal.de/en/russia/national-holidays/easter/

Just in case you don’t check out the above link, I have copied and pasted part of the text below:

As there are no bench rows in orthodox churches, some people find it difficult to stand the whole mass that goes on for hours. But the impressive ceremony is worth every effort. The Easter service ends early in the morning (at dawn ) when the priests go around the crucifix. (Note from me : More often than not, and I have experienced this in Alaska Orthodox services, the Priest leads the entire congregation, many of them carrying candles, around the entire perimeter of the Church) Numerous church bells start ringing, the singing gets louder, and finally the priests tell everybody to forgive each other and seal it with a hug and a kiss. Everyone happily follows this appeal. The traditional Easter greeting can be heard everywhere: “Christ is risen!” (russian: Христос воскресе!) and the answer “He is truly risen!” (russian: Воистину воскресе!).

Orthodox Easter Sunday is ‘way off the charts’ when compared to our Western Church Easter Sunday celebrations.

Patti and I then went to The Kharlampiyevskaya Mikhaylo-Arkhangel’skaya Tserkov Church just up the street. Same thing. Nothing much going on. More people were here and another Priest engaged the two of us. Patti lit two candles and placed them into the candle holder. We prayed. Very nice experience.

Home we came. What to do with our boiled Easter Egg. It is a personal gift from an Orthodox Priest. We decided to honor both our benefactor and the egg by eating it in a serious religious sense. So we did.

I wonder how many Easter Eggs get photographed like ours?

Well that-is-that for our very special Easter Sunday 2019 in the Russian Orthodox tradition.

Rhetorical Question : Will we ever do the Orthodox midnight service?

All day, ending in the very late afternoon, sometimes for 20-minutes at a time, from our apartment we could hear the church bells singing their Easter Serenade!

With Joy in Christ ..

HE IS RISEN! 

Cap and Patti

Below is a link that gives a lot of information about the church:

http://irkipedia.ru/content/cerkov_mihaila_arhangela_harlampievskaya_g_irkutsk

• ← APR 27, 19 .. FOR WHAT IT’S WORTH
• MAY 2, 19 .. A DAY IN OUR LIFE HERE IN IRKUTSK, RUSSIAN SIBERIA. →