2023-04-16 10:16:37
Today, Orthodox Christians celebrate their main holiday. – Christ is risen! – comes from all sides in the temples. – Truly resurrected! – people echo each other and rejoice together on Easter.
This year, the churches of the capital were filled to capacity – this has not been the case for five years. In the Holy Resurrection Cathedral, people stood shoulder to shoulder, sang Paschal troparia in unison, congratulated each other with joy that had not faded over two millennia.
The festive service lasted regarding four hours, but it can neither be compressed nor accelerated. Every action and word connects the Orthodox with an invisible temporal bridge with the events taking place in the last days of Christ’s earthly life.
The Easter service began with the midnight office – during it the canon of Great Saturday is read, which tells regarding the burial of Christ. It ended with a procession around the church, and exactly at midnight, Bishop Savvaty of Bishkek and Kyrgyzstan exclaimed: “Christ is Risen!” “Truly Risen!” echoed hundreds of voices.
It was a good tradition at the Easter service to read the Gospel in different languages. But this year it was decided to leave only two – Church Slavonic and Kyrgyz – understandable to most parishioners. And in Russian they were congratulated on Easter by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and Metropolitan Vincent of Tashkent and Central Asia – a message from them was announced before the main part of the service – the Eucharist. The language of the harmony of sound and the joy of the word, understandable to all, sounded at the service – the bishop’s choir under the direction of Evgenia Fisenko wove the invisible space of church music.
Closer to four in the morning, the lighting of Easter cakes and eggs began. The parishioners, who did not fit in the hall of the cathedral, traditionally lined up in a ring around the temple. There were no lights on Zhibek Zholu Avenue that day, but the lack of lighting leveled all that was superfluous. The main thing remains – Easter cakes, burning candles, attempts to protect your light from the merciless cold wind and rain …
– When will Vladyka come out to shine Easter cakes? whispered silhouettes.
– Something long today. Earlier at two o’clock it was already illuminated. It’s starting to rain once more, – a dissatisfied murmur was heard here and there.
The ringing of bells split the monolith of predawn darkness. She set in motion, carried waves of good news around the area.
– Christ is Risen! Vladyka exclaimed and began to sprinkle holy water all around. Its drops shot up into the air and in the light of a single lantern turned into a silver rain. He fell on Easter cakes, on the shoulders of people, on their faces, which rose up to where the bell rang. And at that moment dawn broke in the east.
… Easter cakes and Easter eggs will light up the whole day today until the evening service. This is an amazing, kind tradition that helps people materialize the intangible. In wicker baskets filled with homemade cakes, they take away a piece of Easter joy from the church to share it with the household – following all, like everything important in the world, it is multiplied by division.
And on Monday, Orthodox Christians will once more come to the Holy Resurrection Cathedral – to meet the Holy Fire. For many years, according to tradition, a delegation from the Central Asian metropolitan district has been flying to Jerusalem for him. The meeting of the fire will take place at 16.00, and then Vladyka Savvaty will “distribute” it to the parishioners during the service.
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