Yes, I drove to church at 10 pm this last Saturday. It was an hour drive to Columbus to the nearest Orthodox church but after a lifetime of Midnight Pascha (Easter) services it would’ve been strange not to do so. If my religion hasn’t changed for over 2000 years, why should I abandon a nearly two-decade tradition?
The hardest part was the beginning. I drove alone (sorry mom, I was fine it’s okay) and I had to keep myself attentive. I’m going to be completely honest, I definitely turned on the Veggie Tales soundtrack to stay on the topic of God. I finally arrived at the OSU campus at 11:20, 20 minutes before the service. I walked in and immediately sat myself down in the pews, my ears perked up at the bible reading before the service; there was a mention of St. Peter speaking to the Athenians at the Areopagus, something I had just learned about in my Greek History class.
Eventually the service started and the clergy began lighting the candles that were previously given to all of the parishioners. We then began the procession around the church. At my usual church we walk around the building three times singing a hymn, but this time it was more like half of a circle. After which we finally begin to celebrate the Resurrection!
At least 20 times in the Paschal Divine Liturgy, the priest as well as other clergies will exclaim “Christ is Risen!” and the congregation replies, “Indeed He is Risen!” In many pan-Orthodox churches, other languages will be thrown in. The two classic languages are Russian and Greek which is Christos Voskrese/Voistinu Voskrese and Christos Anesti/Aleithos Anesti respectively. Sometimes more obscure languages will be thrown in such as Arabic or Romanian and it’s always really fun seeing who knows the different responses.
Catch my arm in the bottom right hand corner!
At home, my mom is in charge of my church’s bookstore so we are guaranteed to always have the right service book. Unfortunately, this time she did not make the trek from Arizona so I could take advantage of that. Since I’ve been attending these services since I was really young, I knew all the hymns, which is the important part anyway. But at around 1:15, my heels started really killing me and I snuck a dreaded peak at my phone. It was really unnecessary since the Gospel reading came shortly after that alerting me of about the halfway mark.
Here’s another really great picture of my back.
Typically, at the end of the service (at around 2:30 am), all of the parishioners congregate in an adjoining room to celebrate the feast and finally eat meat, dairy products, and alcohol after 40 days of Lent. At that point, everyone is exhausted, but the sense of community is incredible. Everyone is welcome to different parts of the baskets created, usually full of sausages, cheese, and Pascha bread (thank goodness my mom froze one for me!).
Unfortunately, I had to be realistic with myself and I decided that I probably would not be able to safely drive myself the hour back to Gambier if I stayed any longer. So, accompanied once again by Veggie Tales, I drove back already excitedly anticipating next year’s Paschal season and looking forward to the positive feelings of the upcoming Bright Week.
This weekend was really important to me for several reasons, one of which was my ability to celebrate my religious beliefs even when I am far away from my family. This tradition has meant a lot to me my whole life, especially given that it is such a long-standing ceremony (pun intended). Even if you’re not religious, I hope you had a great weekend in the company of your loved ones.