Easter: ‘feast of feasts’

There is no Christian Empire to speak of.

But there is a Christian faith in the heart of the people that has existed for centuries after the administrative empire ceased to exist.

Orthodox Easter is the “feast of feasts.”

Our human nature becomes Godlike, and it is transfigured during this time of the year.

We share the joy that the disciples experienced when they first saw the risen Savior.

We as believers greet the news of joy with “Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!” until the Ascension of Our Lord.

Easter, or Pascha (“Passover”), is the center of this ancient rite of Christian faith.

This holiday is in the Old Testament where it signifies the passage of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery to freedom.

For Christians, Pascha is the passage from death to life, a more mystical approach.

As Orthodox Christians, at Easter time we celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The prophet Isaiah, speaking passionately about the Lord, says: “Like a lamb to the slaughter was brought ...” (Isaiah 53, 7).

So, for Orthodox Christians, Christ is the lamb of salvation of all humanity.

During Holy Week, on Friday night during Lamentations (burial service), we chanted about the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world (Exodus 12:46).

St. Paul tells us that we need to make every effort to receive the Holy Eucharist during the Divine Liturgy.

In the Christian world, there have been regional differences in terms of time of celebration. These differences on the date of Easter celebration gave rise to discussion and controversy.

The first worldwide Christian Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, in 325 A.D., adopted the calculation for the date of Easter in Alexandria, a city known for astronomy. The council established that Easter would be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox.

The Roman Catholic Church adopted the Julian calendar that provided a difference of 11 minutes in a year compared to the astronomical year.

On Feb. 24, 1582, Pope Gregory XIII, at the suggestion of astronomers of the time, suppressed 10 days that remained in the calendar year (Oct. 5-14) and restored the vernal equinox on March 21.

The Gregorian calendar was accepted gradually in all Western European countries.

At the beginning of the 20th century, most Orthodox churches accepted this correction to the calendar.

The Resurrection of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ not only gives us victory over sin, but a victory over death itself. With God, we walk toward immortality.

Resurrection opens us all a triumphal entry into the heavenly life starting right here on earth and then continuing our citizenship in heaven with the saints.

It is the victory and glorification that we humans live at Resurrection because it brings us to that holy feeling with God.

With the risen Christ, we become “sons of the Resurrection,” defeating sin and death.

Orthodox Christians share the faith that during the Resurrection Day and the week following (the Bright Week) the doors of paradise are opened and those to hell are closed.

He who dies in this time frame is received in heaven, whatever sins he has done, because all is forgiven because of our Lord Jesus Christ’s Resurrection.

For an Orthodox Christian, Easter is the central event in his or hers pious life, ecclesiastical and spiritual.

We will resonate the voice of the Resurrection Gospel and of our faith in heaven. We will all sing: “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and those in the graves restoring life!”

The Holy Resurrection is a reality of the divine power. This divine miracle of human history filled with heavenly gifts flooding our hearts are above everything earthly.

Another miracle is that the entire humankind share the gift of Christ’s Resurrection and takes a step toward heaven, immortality or eternity.

Today, in this season of spring, we come as participants to the miracle of the Resurrection of our Lord, crucified and buried for three days, but risen by God’s power.

With God, everything turns into a victory because “if God is with us,” said St. Paul, “who can be against us?”

The Rev. John Dumitrascu is pastor of Holy Trinity Romanian Orthodox Church in Youngstown and chaplain with the U.S. Air Force Reserves at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton.