Easter service in 2025: when does it start, how long does it last
On the night of April 19-20, Orthodox churches will host the Easter Service, the largest and most solemn of the year. Izvestia tells us what it consists of, what time it starts, and when it ends.
The divine service begins late on Holy Saturday evening before midnight, but not earlier than at 23:00. The exact time may vary depending on the church, so it is customary to come to the Easter service in advance, especially since many people traditionally gather for the celebration.
The first part of the service is called midnight mass. Depending on the traditions of each individual temple, it lasts either until midnight or stops 15-20 minutes before it. This is followed by a procession around the temple, which will either end at midnight on Easter or begin at that time.
Immediately after the procession, Easter Matins begins, it is also sometimes called matins, as it begins long before dawn. The duration of Easter Matins may also vary from parish to parish, but it usually ranges from half an hour to an hour.
Matins are followed by the Easter hours and the Divine Liturgy, during which the Eucharistic canon is sung. This is the final part of the Easter service. As a rule, it ends at about three o'clock in the morning.
During the Midnight fast, the priest and deacon, by the light of candles alone, place a shroud in front of the altar on the pulpit — an image of Christ lying in a coffin. Before the shroud, the priest reads the canon of Holy Saturday "By the Wave of the Sea", which tells about the burial of Christ. After the reading, the priest takes the shroud to the altar and places it on the altar table, where it will remain for 40 days until Easter.
The procession begins with the threefold singing of the stichera "Thy Resurrection, O Christ the Savior, the Angels sing in heaven, and vouchsafe to glorify us on earth with a pure heart," to which the bell tolls begin. The clergy, along with the choir and parishioners, holding banners and icons, walk around the temple three times to the continuing singing. At the end of the procession, the procession stops at the closed western gate and sings the troparion "Christ is Risen" three times. With these words, the rector addresses the parishioners, to which they should respond: "Truly, he is risen!" After that, the doors open, everyone enters the temple, and the lighting turns on.
The Easter Matins consists of the great litany, the singing of the Easter canon in eight parts, the reading of the stichera and the Catechumenary of St. John Chrysostom. For each song of the canon, the priest performs incense and greets the parishioners with the cry "Christ is risen!"
In addition, in different songs of the canon, priests change into clothes of different colors. This is an indication that the whole world, with all its light and color— rejoices at the Resurrection of Christ. After the stichera, the believers begin to celebrate Christ — they kiss three times and exchange Easter eggs. A priest can either confer with parishioners or make the sign of the cross on three sides.
The duration of matins may vary. On average, it ends closer to 3 o'clock.
With the end of matins, the Easter hours pass — a short set of joyful hymns that can only be heard on Easter. Immediately after that, the Divine Liturgy begins. It begins with reading Easter verses from the prophecies of King David and singing "Christ is Risen," then moving on to reading the Gospel in various languages — Russian, Church Slavonic, Latin, Greek and other national languages.
The Liturgy ends with the consecration of artos, the sacred bread in the form of prosphora. The priest performs incense and sprinkles the artos with holy water, after which he leaves it in front of the royal gates of the temple until next Saturday, when it will be distributed to the parishioners. After the Liturgy, the faithful have the right to talk — to taste the lenten food.
Earlier, Izvestia shared postcards and Easter greetings.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
