Meaning of Pascha

[Owen Jones]

Pascha comes from the Hebrew Pesach (Passover). Is this the passing over of the angel of death? Or is it the passing over the Red Sea (i.e. the Exodus)?

A holy and joyous Pascha to all.

[Antonios]

I believe the Hebrew Passover celebrates the release of God's people (Israel) from bondage and slavery (that is, the Exodus), which includes the event of Moses parting the Red Sea. Our Passover, that is, the Christian Pascha, deals with our freedom from the bondage and slavery of sin and death through the passion, crucifixion, and ressurection of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the spiritual passover of the new covenant.

[Antonios]

From St. Gregory of Nazianus First Paschal Oration (found on the Holy Pascha (http://www.monachos.net/patristics/nazianzus/or_1.shtml)link on Monachos.net)

Yesterday the Lamb was slain and the door-posts were anointed, and Egypt bewailed her Firstborn, and the Destroyer passed us over, and the Seal was dreadful and reverend, and we were walled in with the Precious Blood. To-day we have clean escaped from Egypt and from Pharaoh; and there is none to hinder us from keeping a Feast to the Lord our God—the Feast of our Departure; or from celebrating that Feast, not in the old leaven of malice and wickedness, but in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, carrying with us nothing of ungodly and Egyptian leaven.

[Boulos]

I saw in Yahoo question the following:
Why we say "Christ is risen" not "Christ has risen! ".
Comments are appreciated.

[Fr Aaron Warwick]

Good question, Boulos. We say Christ "is" risen vs. "has" risen because we see the Resurrection as ever present. In other words, Christ did not die and rise again and then die again like Lazarus. He is risen and is present among us. The Resurrection is not just a thing of the past.

[Herman Blaydoe]

Pascha comes from the Hebrew Pesach (Passover). Is this the passing over of the angel of death? Or is it the passing over the Red Sea (i.e. the Exodus)?

A holy and joyous Pascha to all.
Pascha is the Passing from Death to Life, the ultimate sacrifice of the Passover Lamb. I don't think it is an either/or thing. As we participate in Pascha, we transcend time and space, or rather, Christ transcends time and space. We are with Moses and the children of Israel in Egypt and they are with us in the eternal NOW. WE are leaving Egypt, we are escaping the angel of death, we are crossing the Red Sea and St. Moses is celebrating Pascha with us. I think this also answers the question of why we say "Christ IS Risen".

[M.C. Steenberg]

Pascha comes from the Hebrew Pesach (Passover). Is this the passing over of the angel of death? Or is it the passing over the Red Sea (i.e. the Exodus)?

Dear Owen, the best place to look for answers to this, in terms of liturgical texts, are the various Resurrection canons sung at matins on a Sunday (either at the Vigil on Saturday evening, or at Orthros before the Liturgy, depending on tradition). And the key canon is that we've been singing more recently: the matins canon of Pascha.

You'll find all sorts of Passover analogies drawn in the irmoi of these canons: the red sea, children in the furnace, Jonas in the whale, etc.

Apologies that I don't have the texts to hand at the moment, or I'd offer some concrete examples.

XB, Matthew

[Ken McRae]

Dear Owen, the best place to look for answers to this, in terms of liturgical texts, are the various Resurrection canons sung at matins on a Sunday (either at the Vigil on Saturday evening, or at Orthros before the Liturgy, depending on tradition). And the key canon is that we've been singing more recently: the matins canon of Pascha.

Perhaps the texts you're referring to, Matthew, are available at the Holy Trinity Orthodox School website, on the Textbooks page, which hosts a great section of Liturgical Texts. >> http://www.holytrinitymission.org/index.php <<

[Boulos]

I found this site commented in russian language, containing video of this year 2006 Holy Light in Jerusalem:
http://news.ntv.ru/85977/
and
http://news.ntv.ru/85988/

[Theopesta]

I saw in Yahoo question the following: Why we say "Christ is risen" not "Christ has risen! ". Comments are appreciated.

can I say if I am not mistaken we say that as the divinty not taste death but the humanity, so that humanity need the power of the divinty with whom it united to be risen, this indicate that the humanity not dissolve on the divinty but keep its properties.

IN ONE CHRIST, Theopesta

[M.C. Steenberg]

I saw in Yahoo question the following:
Why we say "Christ is risen" not "Christ has risen! ".
Comments are appreciated.
The usual response to this is that in the liturgical life of the Church, the resurrection is made a present reality; or rather, the full scope of reality is experienced in the present. This is the sense that lies behind the customary present-tense of liturgical language ('Today the Saviour of all is hung upon a tree...', 'Today Christ lays in the tomb...', etc).

XB, Matthew

[C.M. Duskin]

I saw in Yahoo question the following:
Why we say "Christ is risen" not "Christ has risen! ".
Comments are appreciated.

Actually, the problem of having two forms stems from the fact that English grammar has changed over the centuries. The past participle in English is currently rendered using the verb "to have" - such as "he has written" or "they have sung." In the past English has been influenced by the French rendering of past participles that use the verb "to be" instead of "to have." The phrase "Christ is risen" and "Christ has risen" are BOTH correct. Christ IS risen follows the King James English commonly used when quoting scripture.

[Moses Anthony]

The usual response to this is that in the liturgical life of the Church, the resurrection is made a present reality; or rather, the full scope of reality is experienced in the present. This is the sense that lies behind the customary present-tense of liturgical language ('Today the Saviour of all is hung upon a tree...', 'Today Christ lays in the tomb...', etc).

XB, Matthew
One of the things which myself (amd those who're candidates for Oblates according to the Order of St. Benedict), is to read The Rule of St. Benedict, who in chapter 40, "...The life of a monk ought to be a continous Lent...." We then on the other side of Great Lent, since Our Lord lives outside of time and space, can celebrate a continual Pascha. Yesterday therefore; Christ "is"risen, and He will be today and tomorrow.

I think I'm speaking (posting), above what I understand, and since the reality of Christ is perceived best not with the mind, I shall stop, lest pride and heresy be mine.

the sinful and unworthy servant