THE PROCESSION
The divine services of the night of Pascha commence near midnight of Holy Saturday. At the Ninth Ode of the Canon of Nocturn, the priest, already vested in his brightest robes, removes the Holy Shroud from the tomb and carries it to the altar table, where it remains until the leave-taking of Pascha. The faithful stand in darkness. Then, one by one, they light their candles from the candle held by the priest and form a great procession out of the church. Choir, servers, priest and people, led by the bearers of the cross, banners, icons and Gospel-book, circle the church. The bells are rung incessantly and the angelic hymn of the resurrection is chanted.
The procession comes to a stop before the principle doors of the church. Before the closed doors the priest and the people sing the troparion of Pascha, “Christ is risen from the dead . . .”, many times. Even before entering the church the priest and people exchange the paschal greeting: “Christ is risen! Indeed He is risen!” This segment of the paschal services is extremely important. It preserves in the experience of the Church the primitive accounts of the resurrection of Christ as recorded in the Gospels. The angel rolled away the stone from the tomb not to let a biologically revived but physically entrapped Christ walk out, but to reveal that “He is not here; for He has risen, as He said” (Matt. 28:6).
In the paschal canon we sing:
Thou didst arise, O Christ,
and yet the tomb remained sealed,
as at Thy birth the Virgin’s womb remained unharmed;
and Thou has opened for us the gates of paradise (Ode 6).
Finally, the procession of light and song in the darkness of night, and the thunderous proclamation that, indeed, Christ is risen, fulfill the words of the Evangelist John: “The light shines in darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).
The doors are opened and the faithful re-enter. The church is bathed in light and adorned with flowers. It is the heavenly bride and the symbol of the empty tomb:
Bearing life and more fruitful than paradise,
Brighter than any royal chamber:
Thy tomb, O Christ, is the fountain or our resurrection (Paschal Hours).