Pascha
Christ is risen!Every year I look forward to Pascha. The fast is completed and I no longer have to worry about trying to make some type of effort to follow it. Some times I have to grab lunch on the run and the only place does not have fasting food. If they do, it is expensive and that also defeats the purpose. We are supposed to eat cheaply and simply and give the money we save to the poor.
I do love the services that we have during Lent. It is a period of joyous sadness. We wear dark and somber clothes to remind us of the season.
Then "we announce the resurrection of Christ and we start eating and we don't stop" [Archbishop DMITRI of blessed memory]. We wear the brightest colors we have. I wear white clergy shirts and a gray cassock. During the week I wear a gray clergy shirt. I wear white on Sunday because it is Sunday and every Sunday is a "little Easter Sunday."
We do not kneel in church for 40 days. The Royal Doors and the deacon doors are open for the first week to remind us of the open tomb.
Our music is joyful. This year for the first time every Sunday we heard the popular The Angel Cried. I really felt the Paschal spirit during the Liturgy. When my sister Daria she wanted this to be sung at her funeral and it made the funeral even more special.
