Maybe you're wondering why I haven't breathed a word about Easter. That's because we, as (almost) Orthodox Christians, technically won't celebrate our Easter (called "Pascha," which means "Passover") for another week. Why, you may ask? Well, the Western Church uses the Gregorian calendar to figure the date for Easter, while the Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar. (Look at this Easter article for a more detailed explanation.) The Orthodox Church (from what I know) has shifted the rest of its calendar to line up with the West, with this exception.
This week, at our church's adult education class, I learned one reason they have kept this reckoning for Pascha: Passover. The Last Supper, which of course preceded Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, was during Passover, and so the Orthodox Church holds that Pascha cannot be held until Passover is over. (At our class Wednesday a few of the members asked us, their post-Protestant converts, why the Western church does this. How does it explain holding Easter in the middle of the Passover feast? They were honestly bewildered. Stephen answered, "Honestly, I don't know if anyone makes it an issue. Passover isn't really considered.") Stephen did some digging and found that for the next two years we will celebrate Pascha on the same day as the West's Easter, but that other years the dates can be off by up to about four weeks.
Believe me, it's all very strange right now. I feel stuck between two worlds. Not in a bad way. If anything, I'm thrilled to celebrate Christ's resurrection twice. But still. It makes things strange. How do we resolve our Resurrection-heavy (as in, Pascha is a much bigger deal than Christmas) church with silly things like Easter eggs and candy? When and how do we celebrate with our family, who are Protestant? Do people in the Orthodox Church think we're heretical when we slip and say "Happy Easter!" or answer "He is risen indeed!" instead of "Truly, He is risen"?
(No, they don't. They think we're wonderful. They think our kids are wonderful. They think Baylor, shrieking at the top of his lungs because he just doesn't want to wear shoes, I don't want to wear shoes or socks, is wonderful. Huh.)
So we're bumbling through this first Pascha of ours, learning as we go, and enjoying it immensely. Today was our Palm Sunday, and we brought home palms, which actually, through a mistake, ended up being bay leaves, so our house smells great as a bonus.
A fragrant offering, indeed.
After our service we went to my folks' house, where we celebrated their Easter with a huge Easter brunch, baskets for the kids, and an egg hunt for the boys. Jack and Baylor were satisfied with the first four eggs they found, so I'm sure Mom and Dad will be stumbling upon the forgotten remainder for the next few weeks. Charlotte looked positively darling in a dress my grandmother sent a while back, and we had a great, relaxing day just hanging out and enjoying the Sabbath.
I don't have any pictures from today quite yet, so I'll instead share with you the shots from our egg dyeing this week. Stephen and I weren't terribly thrilled about dyeing eggs, but then my mom reminded us that it's about the kids (Oh, yeah.), and we ended up having a great time.
See the eggs teetering at the tops
of the dye glasses?
Jack did that. Once he figured out the concept,
he just couldn't stop tossing eggs.
My sister, Candice, and Baylor
We got wise and stripped the boys down.
I like that Michael Jackson is peeking
out from Baylor's shoulder here.
What can we say? We like Thriller.
Jack was especially enthusiastic about
applauding for himself after he
tossed the eggs in the dye.
And one hazard of clapping so enthusiastically
after dunking one's hand in dye is
spraying one's face with said dye.
She had fun grabbing at everything.
And the drool can be explained by
the tooth halfway in on the bottom.
This final photo isn't from the egg dyeing evening.
I just wanted to show you how Charlotte's
hair is coming in. It's really quite fantastic.
To my Western Church friends, He is risen!
To my Orthodox friends, hang in there! Soon we can shed the Lenten fast and celebrate Christ's resurrection in the best way we know how.
(With a lamb dinner, of course.)
(He is risen, indeed!)
6 comments:
nicely said!
Slight quibble: "the Orthodox Church holds that Pascha cannot be held until Passover is over." According to that Wikipedia article and what Father Bill was saying Wednesday, Pascha doesn't ever take place until Passover has at least started, but it doesn't have to be over. And, I'm not sure this is an actual rule so much as it is simply a result of how things worked out in the Julian calendar. It is, however, obviously important to the Orthodox we have spoken with, so perhaps it's one of the reasons that the Orthodox church didn't want to switch over to using the Gregorian calendar to calculate the date of Easter.
Next year we all celebrate the same day! I was looking up next years Easter date and it popped up that both western and orthodox churches will all celebrate the same day, which is unusual. I didn't realize they were different till Nick mentioned that someone he works with said the Greek celebrate it later. Maybe it's not that he's greek, but orthodox.
Adorable photos, Christine!
I wish I could have dyed eggs with you guys! Looks like it was a lot of fun!
And I'm enjoying learning more about the Orthodox church! I love learning new things :)
oh the days of coloring Easter Eggs are behind me now :(
my kids are too big to do that now you know! They looked like they had a lot of fun. I enjoy your posts and I especially enjoy the pics! Hope all is well with you guys. Love to all!
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