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Offices of the Holy Eastern Church
tr. Littledale, 1863
19. The Office of Easter Day
About the hour of Dawn all the signallers sound. And the Ecclesiarch distributes the tapers to the brethren. And the Priest with the Deacon put on all their white sacerdotal vestments. Then, the Priest taking the Holy Gospel and the Deacon the thurible, and lamps being borne before them, we all advance into the Narthex holding the lighted tapers, and singing: “Thy Resurrection, Saviour Christ &c.” And the Candelaptes alone remaining in the Church, lights all the tapers and candles, and making a fire and throwing incense into it, he places it in the middle of the church. And in the Narthex, the tetrapod being placed before the Royal Doors, which are locked, the Priest lays the Holy Gospel upon it and reads the customary Second Dawn Lesson. “And when the Sabbath was past &c.” (S. Mark XVI. 1.)
After this, taking the thurible into his hands, and incensing he says:
Glory to the Holy, and Consubstantial, and Life-giving, and Undivided Trinity, now and ever, and to ages of ages.
And as we respond: Amen, the Priest begins with a loud voice the following:
Troparion. First plagal Tone.
Christ hath risen from the dead,
Death by death down doth He tread,
And on those within the tombs
He bestoweth life.
This is said thrice by the Priest, and thrice by the Choir, without Stichoi. Then the Priest or the Deacon says thus the following Stichoi, and at each Stichos the same Troparion is sing in like manner by the Choir.
Stich. a. Let God arise and let us His enemies be scattered; let them also that hate Him flee before Him.
Choir. Christ hath risen &c.
Stich. b. Like as the smoke vanisheth, so shalt Thou drive them away, and like as wax melteth at the fire.
Choir. Christ hath risen &c.
Stich. c. So let the ungodly perish at the presence of God, but let the righteous be glad.
Choir. Christ hath risen &c.
Stich. d. This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice be glad in it.
Glory. “Christ hath risen.” Both now. The same Troparion.
Then the Priest with a louder voice:
Christ hath risen from the dead,
Death by death down doth He tread.
Choir. And on those within the tombs
He bestoweth life.
The Great Collect.
After which the Priest exclaims: “For to Thee belongs all might &c.” And the doors being opened, the Priest and Deacon go in, the lights being again borne before them. And the Provost, following with the brethren, begins the Canon. The Hirmoi are sung by twos and the Troparia to the number of twelve.
The Canon. (63)
Poem of John of Damascus.
First Ode. First Tone. The Hirmos.
The Day of Resurrection!
Nations, let us rejoice!
The Passover, the Passover of the Lord!
For from death to life,
And from Earth to Heaven,
Christ our God hath made us pass,
Singing the Hymn of victory.
Troparion.
Let us cleanse our senses, and we shall behold
Christ shining in the light unapproachable
Of the Resurrection,
And we shall clearly hear Him saying Hail, to us
Singing the Hymn of victory.
Let the Heavens, as is meet, be glad,
And let the Earth rejoice,
And let all the world
Visible and invisible keep festival,
For Christ hath risen, everlasting Joy.
Catabasia. The Day of Resurrection.
Christ hath risen (thrice). Jesus having risen (once).
These are said at all the Odes. Then:
The Little Collect.
After which the exclamation: “For Thine is the power.”
Third Ode. The Hirmos.
Come, let us quaff the new drink,
Not wondrously produced from barren rock,
But the fount of immortality,
Which Christ hath poured upon us from the tomb,
He, in Whom we are established.
Troparion.
Now all things are filled with light,
Heaven and earth
And things below the earth.
Then let all creation keep the feast,
CHRIST’S Rising, in which it is established.
Yesterday, O Christ,
With Thee I was entombed, To-day
With Thee arising I arise.
Yesterday
With Thee upon the Cross I hung.
Glorify me, O Saviour, with Thyself
In Thy dominion.
Catabasia. Come, let us quaff.
Exclamation. For Thou art our God.
Hypacoe. Fourth Tone.
They who came with Mary,
And came before the dawn,
Finding the stone rolled from the sepulchre,
From the Angel heard:
“Him Who in light eternal dwells,
Why seek ye as a man among the dead?
Behold the grave-clothes, haste, and tell the world,
That the Lord hath risen, and hath been
The death of Death,
And that He is the Son of God
Who saveth the race of men.”
And a lection from the Theologian (S. Gregory Nazianzen).
Fourth Ode. The Hirmos.
Upon the sacred watch-tower
Stand with us, Habakkuk, Prophet of God,
And shew us the light-bringing Angel
Unceasingly saying,
To-day to the world is salvation,
For Christ, as Almighty, hath arisen.
Troparion.
Christ as a male hath appeared
Opening the Virgin’s womb
As our food, He is called a Lamb;
As blameless and as free from stain,
He is our Passover;
And as Very God,
Perfect He is named.
As a yearling lamb,
Our blessed, saving Crown,
Freely for all is sacrificed,
The cleansing Passover.
And in new beauty from the tomb,
On us the Sun of Righteousness hath shined.
Before the shadowing ark
David, God’s sire, leaped and danced.
Let us, God’s holy race,
Seeing the types’ fulfilment, piously rejoice,
For Christ, as Almighty, hath arisen.
Catabasia. Upon the sacred watch-tower.
Exclamation. For Thou art the good.
Fifth Ode. The Hirmos.
Let us at early morn arise
And instead of ointment bring
Hymns of gladness to our King,
And see the Lord with our eyes,
The Sun of Justice rising, life to all.
Troparion.
They who were held in Hades’ chain
Seeing Thy boundless loving kindness,
Hastened to the light, O Christ,
With gladsome foot applauding
The Eternal Passover.
Let us advance with lamps in hand,
To Christ, as to a Bridegroom, coming from the tomb,
And let us, with the festive ranks,
Together keep God’s saving Passover.
Catabasia. Let us at early morn.
Exclamation. For hallowed.
Sixth Ode. The Hirmos.
Into the lowest parts of earth,
Thou didst descend, O Christ, and break
The everlasting bars which held men chained,
And on the third day, as Jonah from the whale,
From the grave Thou didst arise.
Troparion.
Keeping the seals unbroken, Thou, O Christ,
Didst from the grave arise,
Thou Who at birth didst not destroy
The Virgin bars,
And Who to us hast opened
The gates of Paradise,
My Saviour and my God,
Who didst unto the Father bring
Thyself an offering, loving, unsacrificed,
Now rising from the grave
Thou hast raised Adam too, and all his race.
Catabasia. Into the lowest.
Exclamation. For Thou art the King.
Contakion. Fourth plagal Tone.
If into the tomb
Thou didst descend, Immortal One,
Yet Thou didst overthrow
The might of Hades, and as Victor,
Thou hast risen, Christ our God,
Who didst say “Hail” unto the women,
Who bore the ointment, and gavest peace
To Thine Apostles, and dost grant
A resurrection unto them who fell.
The Stanza.
Seeking as those who seek the day,
Very early in the morning
Came the ointment-bearing women,
To the Sun before the sun,
That now had set within the grave.
And they cried to one another:
“Come, let us anoint with spices
The quickening Body buried here,
The Flesh that raiseth fallen Adam,
Lying in the sepulchre.
Come, let us haste, as did the Magi,
Let us adore, and let us bring
The ointments as our gifts
To Him no more in swaddling clothes,
But finest linen wrapped,
Let us weep, and let us cry:
“Master arise, Thou Who dost grant
A resurrection unto them who fell.”
Synaxarion of the Menæon.
Then the following.
On the Holy and Great Sunday of the Passover, we keep the feast of the life-giving Resurrection of our Lord, and God, and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Stichoi.
Christ, going alone down to the fight with Hell,
Arising brought the spoils of victory.
* * * * * * * *
To Him be glory and might for ages of ages. Amen.
And immediately. Beholding the Resurrection of Christ (thrice). Jesus having risen from the tomb (thrice).
Then the remaining Odes of the Canon.
Seventh Ode. The Hirmos.
He Who saved the Children from the furnace
Becoming Man, as mortal suffers
And through His sufferings decks mortality
In the pomp of incorruption,
He, our fathers’ only God,
Blessed alone and altogether glorious.
The holy women with the ointments
Ran after Thee, and Whom they sought
With tears as mortal, now with joy
They adored as Living God,
And told, O Christ, to Thy disciples
The glad news of the mystic Passover.
We celebrate the death of Death,
The overthrow of Hades,
The first fruits of another, endless, life,
And in the dance we hymn the Cause,
Him, our fathers’ God,
Blessed alone, and altogether glorious.
How truly, holy and all-festal
Is this night of salvation and of radiance,
That goes before the Splendour-bearing Day,
The Day of Resurrection, upon which
Eternal Light
Burst in the Body from the tomb, and shone on all.
Catabasia. He who saved.
Exclamation. Thine be the praise.
Eighth Ode. The Hirmos.
This is the chosen and holy day,
The first day of the week,
The feast that Queen and Lady is of feasts,
The festival of festivals, on which
Christ we bless for evermore.
Troparia.
In this glorious day of Resurrection
Come and let us participate
In the new fruit of the vine, celestial joy,
And in the Kingdom
Of Christ, whom we praise as God for evermore.
Lift up thine eyes, O Sion, round about, and see,
For lo! thy children come to thee,
As lights divinely bright.
From the West and from the North,
From the Sea and from the East,
Within thee blessing Christ for evermore.
Almighty Father, Word and Spirit,
Nature in Three Persons One,
Superessential, Most High God,
In Thee have we been baptized,
And Thee we bless for evermore.
Catabasia. This is the chosen.
Exclamation. For blessed.
Ninth Ode. The Hirmos.
Shine, shine, O new Jerusalem,
For the glory of the Lord hath risen on thee,
Rejoice and exult, O Sion,
And thou, pure Mother of God,
Be glad in the Resurrection of Thy Son.
Troparia.
O heavenly, O dear, O sweetest voice of Thine!
For Thou, O Christ, hast promised of a truth
To be with us until the world doth end.
Holding this anchor of our hope
We, Thy faithful ones rejoice.
O Christ, our great and sacred Passover,
Wisdom, Word and Might of God,
Grant to us more perfectly
To partake of Thee
In Thy Kingdom’s day, that hath no night.
Catabasia. Shine, shine.
Exclamation. For Thee praise.
Exaposteilarion Automelon. Second Tone.
In flesh as mortal Thou didst sleep,
Rising the third day, Lord and King,
Raising Adam from corruption,
And death’s might abolishing,
O Passover of incorruption, Salvation of the world! (Thrice.)
At the Praises, we recite nine Stichoi, and we sing four Resurrection Stichera of the Octoechus, and four of the Passover. Of the Octoechus, first Tone, we begin from the Stichoi. Praise Him in His noble acts.
Christ, we sing Thy saving passion,
And Thine arising glorify.
Thou Who didst endure the Cross,
Thou Who didst abolish death,
Thou Who didst rise from the death,
Grant us peace in life, O Lord,
As alone Omnipotent.
Thou Who hast spoiled Hell,
And hast raised man
By Thy Resurrection,
Grant, O Christ, that with pure heart
We may hymn and glorify Thee.
Glorifying Thy divinest condescension,
We praise Thee, Christ.
Of a Virgin Thou wast born,
And wast inseparable from the Father.
Thou didst suffer as a man,
And willingly didst endure the Cross,
From the tomb Thou didst arise,
Going as from a bridal chamber,
That Thou mightst save the world, Glory to Thee, O Lord.
Then the Stichera of the Passover with their Stichoi.
First plagal Tone.
Stichos. Let God arise.
The Holy Passover is shewn to us to-day,
The new and sacred Passover,
The Passover of mystery,
The venerable Passover.
Passover, which is Christ the Saviour,
Spotless Passover, mighty Passover,
Passover of the faithful,
Passover, which opens the gates of Paradise to us,
Passover, which all the faithful sanctifies.
Stichos. As the smoke vanisheth.
Come from the sight, ye women of good news,
And say to Sion,
Receive from us the tidings of great joy
Of CHRIST’S arising.
Rejoice, dance, and be glad, Jerusalem,
Beholding Christ the King,
Advancing as a Bridegroom from the grave.
Stichos. So let the ungodly perish.
The ointment-bearing women,
Going at early morn
To the tomb of Him Who giveth life,
Found an Angel seated on the stone,
And he addressing them as follows spake,
Why seek ye for the Living amongst the dead?
Why mourn ye the Immortal in corruption?
Depart and tell the news to His disciples.
Stichos. This is the day which the Lord hath made.
The gladsome Passover,
The Passover of the Lord, the Passover,
The venerable Passover hath risen on us, the Passover.
Let us in gladness each other now embrace,
O Passover, that frees from woe!
For Christ, as from out a bridal chamber,
Shining from the tomb to-day
Filled the women with gladness, saying:
“Go and tell to the Apostles.”
Glory. Both now. Same Tone.
It is the Day of Resurrection,
Let us be glad in our assembly,
And let us each other embrace,
Let us say, brethren, even to those who hate us,
Let us forgive all things at the Resurrection,
And thus let us cry:
Christ hath risen from the dead,
Death by death down doth He tread,
And on those within the tombs
He bestoweth life.
Then the Christ hath risen, thrice, and we sing this until the brethren have embraced one another, and the embrace takes place thus.
The Priest takes the holy Gospel, and stands before the doors of the holy Bema, and the Cathegumen coming and having kissed the holy Gospel and the Priest, takes it from his hands, and stands on the Priest’s right.
Then all the brethren, according to their order, first kiss the holy Gospel, then the Priest and the Cathegumen, and then remain standing where they may chance to be and kiss each other.
After the Embrace, the Catechetical discourse of Chrysostom is read by the Hegumen or the Ecclesiarch, and all the brethren stand and listen to the lection.
* * * * * * * * *
Then we sing the Troparion of the Saint.
Fourth plagal Tone.
The grace of thy mouth, shining like a torch,
The world illumined, and endowed
The universe with treasures of liberality,
And shewed to us
The height of humbleness, but teaching by thy words,
O Father John the Golden-mouthed,
Intercede with God the WORD,
With Christ, that our souls may be saved.
The Ectene is said by the Priest, and then the Dismissal.