Lazarus Saturday
Lazarus Saturday in many Orthodox churches traditionally is the day
that we do our final cleaning for Pascha. We have Liturgy in the
morning and then a small lunch and then we work. Some people stay at
church all day.
We have several things going on that day. First we have Divine
Liturgy. We wear white because of the resurrection of Lazarus
from the dead. This also reminds us that we will also rise
from the dead one day.
Then we eat. We have been fasting since the previous day in
order to receive Communion. This is a discipline set up by the
Church in response to the needs of the people. St. Paul
touches upon this in one of his Epistles.
Some people prepare the palm and pussy willows for Palm
Sunday. In the Russian churches we also use pussy willows because
in some parts of the world, they are the only thing that is blooming
at this time of the year. It is a practical matter. The
Church is very practical.
Other people clean. We clean the temple the best that we
can. We also clean the items that we use for services.
This is our major cleaning of the year.
Our altar boys did a great job of cleaning. I say "boys"
because I am talking about our young altar servers who have not
reached adulthood yet. Reader Joseph and Mr. Albert are also
alter servers, but it is inappropriate to use the term "altar boys"
when referring to them. Mr. Albert was not involved in the
cleaning, but he was probably helping to get the food ready for
Pascha.
The children this year painted eggs. We hope that many of them
will continue the craft when they have children of their own.
Some of the eggs end up in our Pascha baskets.
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