The entire festive Liturgy consists of special Easter chants - hymns to the Risen Christ. The service is accompanied by almost continuous singing, which personifies the unceasing joy of the believers. Easter hymns are particularly majestic and solemn, since they glorify the main event of the entire Christian world - the victory of Christ over death. They are often sung by parishioners together with the choir, and not only during the night service, but also during the Easter holidays.
Thy Resurrection, O Christ the Savior, / Angels sing in heaven, / and grant us on earth / with a pure heart / to glorify you.
Troparion of Easter
Christ is risen from the dead, / trampling down death by death, / and giving life to those in the tombs.
Even though you descended into the grave, O Immortal One, / but you destroyed the power of hell, / and you rose again as the Victor, Christ God, / telling the myrrh-bearing women: Rejoice! / and grant peace to your apostles, / grant Resurrection to the fallen.
Easter / sacred has appeared to us today; / Easter is new holy; / Easter is mysterious; / All-honorable Easter. / Easter Christ the Deliverer; / Easter is immaculate; / Great Easter; / Easter of the faithful. / Easter opens the doors of heaven to us. / Easter sanctifying all the faithful.
The angel cried out with more grace: / pure Virgin, rejoice! / And again the river: Rejoice! / Your Son is risen / three days from the grave / and raised the dead, / people, rejoice.
Having seen the Resurrection of Christ, / let us worship the Holy Lord Jesus, / the only sinless one, / we worship Thy Cross, O Christ, / and we sing and glorify Thy holy Resurrection: / For Thou art our God, / Do we know no other to Thee, / We call Thy name. / Come, all faithful, / let us worship the Holy Resurrection of Christ: / behold, joy has come through the Cross to the whole world. / Always blessing the Lord, / we sing His Resurrection: / having endured crucifixion, / destroy death through death.
The wave of the sea / hid the persecutor of old, / the tormentor, under the earth hid / the saved youths; / but we, like maidens, / drink to the Lord, / for we are gloriously glorified.
What music is playing around us now? Maybe these are the sounds of modern songs singing to us about earthly love, female beauty and affection. Perhaps we listen to the birds singing with the joy of spring, the murmur of melt water. Let us listen once again to the music of nature; it seems to me that she sings about the Resurrection. Not only about her spring resurrection, but also about the Resurrection of the One who created Her. “May God rise again” is now overflowing now in the temple of God, now in the temple of nature, in the first people glorify God, in the second - all creation. These words are also sung by the one who once uttered them for the first time - the divine David, prophet and spiritual musician.
Psalm 67
The verses of Psalm 67 are heard so often during Easter services that one can safely call it the Easter psalm or the psalm of resurrection. Easter stichera, troparia and other hymns are, as it were, an extended commentary on the verses of the psalm.
May His enemies rise and be scattered, and may those who hate Him flee from His face.
David, with his prophetic gaze, foresees the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The enemies of the Lord, according to the interpretation of St. Athanasius the Great, are demons; the psalmist is confident that with the resurrection of God they will scatter and dissipate like smoke, but for the righteous, on the contrary, this will be the greatest joy before God. This psalm depicts the solemn procession of God to Mount Sinai; it is through this image that David remembers the exodus of the chosen people from Egypt. The amazing connection between these events of the Exodus and the Resurrection of Christ is described here with extraordinary grandeur. The same theme is repeated in the prokeimnas of Bright Week. It would seem, what is the connection between the Exodus of the Jews and the Resurrection of Christ?
God for us is God for salvation; in the power of the Lord Almighty are the gates of death.
This is the connection - in the power of God was the liberation of the once chosen people, in His power was the liberation from death of all mankind.
Christ's victory over death is the central theme of the psalm. The idea of this verse is repeated by the holy Apostle John in the Apocalypse - in the hands of Christ he sees the keys to hell and death. Christ will defeat death by His Resurrection and the time is not far when death and hell will be locked in oblivion forever.
This psalm seems to have been written about us, marching in a procession of the cross, just as the ancient Jews from Egypt marched like us. We “We have seen Your procession, O God, the procession of our God and our King in the holy place”(Ps. 67:25), when you rose from the dead, when you appeared to the apostles, when you gave communion to Luke and Cleopas. And we will follow You, the fiery word of Your apostles. At the procession “the singers were in front, the players were playing instruments behind, and in the middle were maidens with tympani.”(Ps. 67:26), the sea of life parted around us, and the Egyptian chariots sank behind us. Ahead of us is Miriam and the myrrh-bearing women, we are going to Your tomb to see the burial shrouds, to kneel at the place where Your body lay. “Kingdoms of the earth! sing to God, sing praises to the Lord, who walks in the heavens of heavens from everlasting.”(Ps. 67:33), and we shout “Christ is risen!” We entered Your temple with hymns, “Thou art fearful, O God, in Thy sanctuary,” You trampled down death by death, “You took captivity captive” (v. 19), Christ is risen!
Psalm 117
This day, which the Lord has created, we will rejoice and be glad on it.
“What day is this but the Lord's Sunday? What day is this except the day of salvation for all nations, on which the rejected stone will be at the head of the corner? This day of the resurrection of our Savior, which received a borrowed name from Him and is called the Day of the Lord, is meant here by the word,” writes St. Athanasius the Great.
This psalm itself is interesting because of the large number of quotations from it in the New Testament. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself quotes the words from it “The stone that the builders rejected...”, attributing the fulfillment of the words of the psalm to Himself, and with the words from this psalm Christ depicted the recognition of Him as the Savior: “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord”(verse 26).
Here comes the day about which the psalm speaks, the day of salvation, the new day of creation, “let us rejoice and be glad on it.” Holy saving Easter! Rejoice, David, we have heard your call. What day have you seen on which you should rejoice? You saw the Savior coming as a sacrifice to the slaughter: “bind the sacrifice with ropes, lead it to the horns of the altar”(Ps. 117:27). Here He is, rejected by everyone, died, but is alive again and proclaims the works of His Father (Ps. 117:17). Rejoice, prophet Jonah, for you depicted the resurrection by your stay in the belly of a whale, rejoice, Moses, because the entrance to the promised land is now open for you; Rejoice, Ever-Virgin Mary, “Your Son is risen, three days old from the grave.”
Easter verses, tone 5:
May God rise again, / and let His enemies be scattered.
Easter / sacred has appeared to us today; / Easter is new holy; / Easter is mysterious; / All-honorable Easter. / Easter Christ the Deliverer; / Easter is immaculate; / Great Easter; / Easter of the faithful. / Easter opens the doors of heaven to us. / Easter sanctifying all the faithful.
TRANSLATION: Let God arise / and let His enemies be scattered. The sacred Easter appeared to us on this day, / - a new, holy Easter, / a mysterious Easter, an Easter revered by all. / Easter – Christ the Redeemer; / Immaculate Easter, / Great Easter, / Easter of the faithful, / Easter that opened the doors of heaven to us, / Easter that sanctifies all the faithful.
Like smoke disappears, / let them disappear.
Come / from the vision of the wife of the gospel, / and cry to Zion: / receive / from us the joys of the annunciation, the Resurrection of Christ: / show off, rejoice / and rejoice, O Jerusalem, / having seen the King Christ from the tomb, / like a bridegroom coming.
TRANSLATION: As smoke disappears, / let them disappear. Go after the vision, wife of the gospel, / and shout to Zion: / “Receive from us the joy of the gospel of the resurrection of Christ!” / Rejoice, rejoice and rejoice, Jerusalem, / having seen the King Christ, like a bridegroom, / emerging from the tomb.
So let sinners perish from the Face of God, / and let righteous women rejoice.
The Myrrh-Bearing Women, / in the deep morning, / appeared at the tomb of the Life-Giver, / found an Angel, / sitting on a stone, / and told them, / saying: / that you seek the Living One with the dead; / Why are you crying into the aphids? / Go and preach as His disciple.
TRANSLATION: So let sinners perish from the presence of God, / and let the righteous rejoice. The myrrh-bearing women / deep in the morning, / presenting themselves at the tomb of the Giver of Life, / found an Angel sitting on a stone, / and he, turning to them, proclaimed: / “Why are you looking for the Living One among the dead? / Why do you mourn the Imperishable One as one who has undergone corruption? / When you return, tell His disciples!”
This day which the Lord has made, / let us rejoice and be glad on it.
Red Easter, / Easter, Lord's Easter! / All-honorable Easter / an opportunity for us. Easter, / let us embrace each other with joy. / O Easter! / Deliverance of sorrow, / for from the grave this day, / as Christ / has risen from the palace, / fill women with joy, saying: / preach as an apostle.
TRANSLATION: This is the day that the Lord has made, / let us rejoice and be glad in it! Joyful Easter, / Easter, the Lord's Easter, / the all-holy Easter has risen for us. / Easter! Let's hug each other joyfully. / Oh, Easter - deliverance from sorrow! / For from the tomb on this day, / shining forth as from the bridal chamber, Christ / filled the women with joy with the words: / “Tell the Apostles!”
Glory, and now:
Resurrection day, / and we will be enlightened by triumph, / and we will embrace each other. / Let us cry, brethren, / and forgive all those who hate us, / through the Resurrection, / and thus we cry: / Christ is risen from the dead, / trampling down death by death, / and giving life to those in the tombs.
TRANSLATION: Glory, and now: Day of Resurrection! / And we will shine with triumph / and hug each other; / let's say: “Brothers!” / and to those who hate us, / we will forgive everything for the sake of the resurrection / and so we will proclaim: / “Christ has risen from the dead, / trampling down death by death, / and giving life to those in the tombs!”
Ekaterina ZAGULYAEVA
Translation: Hieromonk AMVROSY (TIMROT)
