This past Sunday at St. Innocent, (we start late on Saturday night, actually) our Lenten and Holy Week journey culminated in the Feast of Feasts, Great and Holy Pascha. 

This year, as every year, we went out into the darkness to meet Him.

If you haven’t stood in it, the procession might be hard to understand. It’s not just a scenic walk with candles - it is an embodiment of us coming to the tomb - and even to the gates of Hades itself to meet our Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ,  who has smashed the gates of hell in His triumphant defeat of sin, demons, and death itself.  

As we gathered around the steps of the church, we heard the joyful news of the Resurrection proclaimed for the first time as we sang, “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowing life!” 

Father Theophan pounded on the doors in the traditional dialogue that culminates in the announcement that it is the King of Glory, the Lord, strong and mighty in battle who enters. And at last, we entered the Church singing the joyful troparion over and over,  entering into the Lord’s victory over sin and death as the Paschal matins and liturgy continued. 

It was a joyful, festive night, one where the family nature of the Church is front and center. Young and old give each other grace in the late-night, crowded services, and it’s not uncommon to see little ones or even a teen or two who need to “rest their eyes” here and there amid the heavenly ruckus. 

Christ is risen! Indeed, He is risen! 

“If any man be devout and love God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast. If any man be a wise servant, let him rejoicing enter into the joy of his Lord. If any have labored long in fasting, let him now receive his recompense. If any have wrought from the first hour, let him today receive his just reward. If any have come at the third hour, let him with thankfulness keep the feast. If any have arrived at the sixth hour, let him have no misgivings; because he shall in nowise be deprived thereof. If any have delayed until the ninth hour, let him draw near, fearing nothing. If any have tarried even until the eleventh hour, let him, also, be not alarmed at his tardiness; for the Lord, who is jealous of his honor, will accept the last even as the first; He gives rest unto him who comes at the eleventh hour, even as unto him who has wrought from the first hour.” - from the Paschal Sermon of St. John Chrysostom