Easter Liturgy

Easter 2014.  I had decided to attend the Easter vigil in my village church which is in Jeloboc.  It was beginning at 11 pm and would end about 3:30 AM.   As we assemble in the church I noticed that the bell tower now had a bell, and a beautiful wooden stairway to the bell tower.  This is something that has been added in the past year.  The Church itself  is 100 % more beautiful than the year before.  The wall which separates the congregation from the altar, Iconostasis ?  is very beautiful.. It has wonderful pictures of the Last Supper, the Evangelists, the Archangels, and the significant moments in the Gospels, Jesus and the  Mother of God.   I am overwhelmed at the beauty of the icons.  As we came into the church, the church yard was illuminated by white lights and colored lights that flashed on and off.  What a welcoming sight in the middle of the night as you approach the church for worship.

I enjoy the simple human interchange between people as the ceremony is about to begin.  The chief sacristan’s wife seems to be the person who sells candles for the service.  He comes out and says many plebian things to her.  How beautiful to see the lopsided male-female, husband-wife, relationship laid so bare before fellow parishioners.    Many of the people who have come to church have brought their baskets of easter food.  They are waiting for the priest to splash them with holy water after the service.  The church yard will also be filled with people who have come just at the right hour (3 am) to have their baskets blessed by the priest outside after the service. 

Everyone in the church has lit candles by icons and in their hands as they wait for the service to begin.  Now the priest says that everyone should extinguish their candles and join him outside for the beginning of the service.  I notice that there is a neighbor to the church that plays his radio very loud at this hour of the night.  I noticed this the year before, and I wonder if this person does this intentionally to  disturb the atmosphere of prayer for Christians or are they just having a good time because it is Easter holiday.  (This is one of the many cultural questions that go unanswered because I don’t know if I could ever pose the question correctly to my Moldovan friends.)  We read the Gospel of the first chapter of St John and light our candles from the New Light of Christ and enter the church. 

The Orthodox Liturgy is known for its lengthy prayers and readings as compared to the Roman Catholic version of the Easter Liturgy.   Even though we must say that the Roman liturgy takes a minimum of two hours to perform on Easter Vigil night.  Something that I have failed to understand about my Orthodox liturgy is the tradition of Holy Communion.  When I attend a liturgy, I always realize that the priest consecrates the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, but the people do not partake of the communion meal.  The priest brings the sacred presence of the Lord out to bless the people, but no one but the priest will take the bread and drink the wine….as instructed by the Lord at his Last Supper.  ?

Another confusing thing is the custom of the Orthodox to bring out a tray of bread pieces that were on the altar at the time of consecration.  After the service, many people come up to receive a personal blessing from the priest, maybe kiss a few icons, and leave taking a piece of bread.  Is this communion?, I dare not think so;  but what is the meaning of this symbol?

Well the liturgy was long.  I must remind my readers that the Orthodox do not have pews in their churches.  The worshiper must stand the entire time.  Sometimes during the reading of the Gospel, the people will take a kneeling position on the floor.  But otherwise the only position is standing.  So I felt very patient throughout the many prayers and readings of the Easter Vigil liturgy.  The cantor read a lengthy passage or letter of one of the early fathers of the Church.  And then at the end of the three hour service what did we have but a very long verbose, pious, letter from our bishop read by the priest before we were dismissed to celebrate our Lord’s resurrection.  May I remind you that the young no longer come to church.  We are only senior citizens and perhaps grandchildren whom we have coaxed into coming with us to experience the wonder of the spiritual life.  Any thoughts here?

I felt very tired and very blest to be part of this worship service in my village church.  My host mom and I walked down the road with our flash lights to find the way.  When we got home about 4 am, we had a go at our Easter foods, dyed eggs, carnati  (cold cuts), and a good shot of whiskey.