Easter meaning of the holiday. Resurrection of Christ: history and traditions of Easter

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Last updated - 01/25/2017

Easter - the Holy Resurrection of Christ, the main holiday of Christians, Orthodox and Catholics celebrate April 16 in 2017.

The Church celebrates Easter for 40 days - the same amount of time that Christ was with his disciples after His Resurrection. The first week after the Resurrection of Christ is called Bright or Easter Week.

Icon of the Resurrection of Christ.

Christ's Resurrection in the Gospels

The Gospels say that Jesus Christ died on the cross on Friday at about three o'clock in the afternoon and was buried before dark. On the third day after the burial of Christ, early in the morning, several women (Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Salome and Mary of James and others with them) carried the incense they had bought to anoint the body of Jesus. Walking to the burial place, they grieved: “Who will roll away the stone for us?” - because, as the evangelist explains, the stone was great. But the stone had already been rolled away and the tomb was empty. This was seen by Mary Magdalene, who came first to the tomb, and by Peter and John, whom she called, and by the myrrh-bearing women, to whom the Resurrection of Christ was announced by a young man sitting at the tomb in luminous robes. The four Gospels describe this morning in the words of various witnesses who came to the tomb one after another. There are also stories about how the risen Christ appeared to the disciples and talked with them.

The meaning of the holiday

For Christians, this holiday means the transition from death to eternal life with Christ - from earth to heaven, which is also proclaimed by Easter hymns: “Easter, the Lord's Easter! For from death to life, and from earth to heaven, Christ our God has led us, singing in victory.”

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ revealed the glory of His Divinity, previously hidden under the cover of humiliation: a shameful and terrible death on the cross next to crucified criminals and robbers.

With His Resurrection, Jesus Chrytos blessed and approved the resurrection for all people.

History of Easter

The Old Testament Passover (Passover) was celebrated as a remembrance of the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt and deliverance from slavery. What is Passover?

In apostolic times, Easter combined two memories: the suffering and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The days preceding the Resurrection were called the Easter of suffering. The days after the Resurrection are Easter of the Cross or Easter of the Resurrection.

In the first centuries of Christianity, different communities celebrated Easter at different times. In the East, in Asia Minor, it was celebrated on the 14th day of the month of Nisan (March - April), no matter what day of the week this date fell on. The Western Church celebrated Easter on the first Sunday after the spring full moon.

At the First Ecumenical Council in 325, it was decided to celebrate Easter everywhere at the same time according to the Alexandrian Paschal. This continued until the 16th century, when the unity of Western and Eastern Christians in the celebration of Easter and other holidays was disrupted by the calendar reform of Pope Gregory XIII.

The Orthodox Church determines the date of Easter celebration according to the Alexandrian Paschal: the holiday must necessarily be on the Sunday after the Jewish Passover, after the full moon and after the spring equinox.

Church celebration of Easter

Since ancient times, Easter services have taken place at night. Like God’s chosen people - the Israelites, who were awake on the night of their deliverance from Egyptian slavery, Christians do not sleep on the sacred pre-holiday night of the Bright Resurrection of Christ.

Shortly before midnight on Holy Saturday, the Midnight Office is served, during which the priest and deacon approach the Shroud (a canvas depicting the body of Jesus Christ taken from the cross) and take it to the altar. The shroud is placed on the throne, where it must remain for 40 days until the day of the Ascension of the Lord (June 13, 2014) - in memory of the forty days of Christ’s stay on earth after His Resurrection.

The clergy take off their Saturday white vestments and put on the festive red Easter vestments. Before midnight, the solemn ringing of bells - the bell - announces the approach of the Resurrection of Christ.

Exactly at midnight, with the Royal Doors closed, the clergy in the altar quietly sing the stichera: “Thy Resurrection, O Christ the Savior, the angels sing in heaven, and grant us on earth with a pure heart to glorify Thee.” After this, the curtain is pulled back (the curtain behind the Royal Doors on the side of the altar), and the clergy again sing the same stichera, but this time loudly. The Royal Doors open, and the stichera, in an even higher voice, is sung by the clergy for the third time until the middle, and the temple choir sings the ending. The priests leave the altar and, together with the people, like the myrrh-bearing women who came to the tomb of Jesus Christ, walk around the temple in a procession of the cross, singing the same stichera.

Procession

The procession of the cross means the procession of the Church towards the risen Savior. Having walked around the temple, the procession stops in front of its closed doors, as if at the entrance to the Holy Sepulcher. The ringing stops. The rector of the temple and the clergy sing the joyful Easter troparion three times: “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and giving life (life) to those in the tombs!” Then the rector recites the verses of the ancient prophetic psalm of King David: “May God rise again and His enemies (enemies) be scattered...”, and the choir and people in response to each verse sing: “Christ is risen from the dead...”. Then the priest, holding a cross and a three-candlestick in his hands, makes the sign of the cross with them at the closed doors of the temple, they open, and everyone, rejoicing, enters the church, where all the lamps and lamps are burning, and everyone sings together: “Christ is risen from the dead!” .

Matins

Next they serve Easter Matins: they sing the canon compiled by Saint John of Damascus. Between the songs of the Easter Canon, priests with a cross and censer walk around the temple and greet parishioners with the words: “Christ is Risen!”, to which the believers answer: “Truly He is Risen!”

At the end of Matins, after the Paschal canon, the priest reads the “Word of St. John Chrysostom,” which speaks with inspiration about the joy and significance of this day. After the service, all those praying in the church greet each other with Christ, congratulating each other on the great holiday.

Immediately after Matins, the Easter Liturgy is served, where the beginning of the Gospel of John is read in different languages ​​(if several priests are serving). On Easter, all those who pray, if possible, partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.

After the end of the festive service, Orthodox Christians usually “break their fast” - they treat themselves to blessed colored eggs and Easter cakes at the church or at home. About the tradition of baking Easter cakes

Why are eggs painted at Easter?

In Palestine, tombs were built in caves, and the entrance was closed with a stone, which was rolled away when the deceased was to be laid down.

Believers associate spring not only with budding buds, weather changes and rarely peeking out from behind the clouds, but with the long-awaited sun. People all over the world celebrate one of the greatest religious holidays at this time of year. Everywhere you can hear: “Christ is Risen!” and “Truly He is Risen” - in response. Happy and carefree people begin to prepare for the celebrations in advance. They clean their homes, paint eggs or in a modern way with a church theme. In addition, Easter cake is an equally important attribute holiday. Easter, where did the holiday come from?

Unfortunately, the history of Easter is an unknown mystery for many, and that is why people make a lot of mistakes. As a result, instead of unity with God, they commit sin. To bring knowledge to the masses and help correct the most common mistakes in the celebration, we will tell you about the history of the origin of the Easter holiday. You will find out where it came from, why it is called that and what attributes are required, as well as a lot of other interesting and useful information.

history of the holiday

Slavery of the Israelite people

In order to find out about the origin of the holiday, you will need to open the Bible to the part called “Exodus”. To put it briefly and in understandable language, the Jews were enslaved by the Egyptians for many centuries and humbly endured humiliation, suffering, pain and other torments. They believed that this was how it should be, and therefore they did not complain about fate, but silently, submissively, endured all the trials and hardships. At the center of the events described in the Bible are the prophet Moses and his brother Aaron. It is believed that God, through these people, performed miracles and disasters on Egyptian soil.

Fact or fiction, it’s not up to us to decide

The Pharaoh of Egypt did not want to free the Jewish people from centuries of slavery and became more and more cruel and demanding. Then God, taking pity on the Jews, decided to help the slaves escape to freedom. Each family was ordered to slaughter one male lamb in the evening. At night it had to be eaten without breaking bones, and its blood had to be smeared on the front door of the family’s house. It was a kind of mark.

That night, according to legend, an angel of God descended to earth and killed all the firstborn of Egypt, but the houses of the Jews remained untouched. Pharaoh became frightened when he saw that his nation was in danger, and drove the Jews out of his country. However, after some time, he decided to catch up with them. And again God's providence happened. The sea, located on the way of the slaves, opened up, and the fugitives were able to calmly leave by land, and when the pharaoh stepped on this place, the water closed, and he and his retinue drowned. The people of Israel were liberated, and so Jews around the world began to celebrate Passover, a holiday in honor of their deliverance from centuries of slavery.

A brief history of Easter, passed down from generation to generation

The history of the holiday does not end here, but only begins. After the events described, Jesus Christ is born in the Holy Land. At the age of 30, he begins to preach God’s commandments to the people, and three years later he was crucified on the cross for the sins of mankind. Moreover, this happened immediately after the Passover holiday. It was while celebrating it at the Last Supper that he presented the wine and bread as his own blood and body. He, like the lamb, was killed for the sins of other people and his bones were not broken either. Therefore, the believing people believe that the soul is immortal and rejoices in this, as well as in the resurrection of Christ.

Removing discrepancies

For those who read the article carefully, a question arises quite logically. What do Passover and Easter have to do with it? Yes, the names are similar, but the execution of Christ took place after Passover, and Easter is considered the very day when his resurrection took place... Let's explain. The fact is that Passover is a holiday that is much older, not even years, but centuries, than Easter itself, and in principle, the interpretation that is inherent in the holiday today has nothing to do with the day of liberation of the Jews. However, it was Passover that was celebrated from year to year in full accordance with the lunar calendar according to which people then lived, and Easter could be at least every Sunday. It was only in the fourth century that the decision was made to single out the day on which Jesus was resurrected and make it a universal holiday. It was then that the concepts of “”, meaning “God’s day”, and directly appeared.

Easter traditions

In Rus', Easter was the most important holiday of the year. The people rejoiced at the resurrection of Christ, churches were decorated with attributes corresponding to the holiday, and people carried with them all day long so that when meeting another person they could exclaim: “Christ is risen!” and give him a colored chicken egg. To this they answered him, “Truly he is risen!” The people who met kissed, exchanged joyful speeches and dispersed. In the houses they baked Easter cakes, ate eggs and other delicious food prepared especially for the celebration. Housewives began to clean their house and yard within a week in order to celebrate the joyful holiday in cleanliness and comfort. Round dances were held in the streets, games were played, fairs and fun were held.

Required attribute

Dyeing eggs was a must. Boiled colored eggs were illuminated in the church, carried with them, exchanged them, ate them and hit each other when they met. All these traditions have passed through the centuries to the present day. There is a whole story connected with eggs for Easter, but we will tell you about it next time.

Easter is a fundamental holiday of the Christian faith. The Bible says that by believing in the Resurrection of Christ, people can believe and hope for their own personal salvation. In order to understand the meaning of this great holiday and understand its essence, you need to turn to the history of its origin.

The history of the Easter holiday

The history of Easter begins in the Old Testament life of Christians and is subtly intertwined with the Easter of the New Testament. The word "Passover" comes from the Hebrew word "Passover", which means “to pass, pass by.” The day of Passover is written about in the book of Exodus. According to the Old Testament, God wanted to deliver the Israelites from the terrible oppression of the Egyptian Pharaoh, who did not want to let these people go free. God commanded that on the night before the 14th day of the first month of the lunar calendar, each family should sacrifice an immaculate lamb. Its meat was to be cooked with bitter herbs and unleavened bread, and the blood of the lamb was to be anointed on the front door. God thereby intended to strike Egypt with a terrible punishment, but to protect the Jews, whom Pharaoh did not want to give freedom.

That very night the Destroying Angel entered every house and destroyed everyone, but passed by the houses of those whose houses were anointed with the blood of the lamb. This is the meaning of Passover in the Old Testament - the deliverance of the Jewish people from Egyptian tyranny and captivity. From that day on, God commanded that Easter be celebrated every year in honor of the memory of his liberation from slavery and the acquisition of the Promised Land.

The Old Testament Passover was a prototype of the New Testament Passover. And this day became prophetic in the life of the Jews, because in a few years the son of God, just like the lamb that the Jews sacrificed for their salvation, will become the Savior of all things, of all humanity, sacrificing himself. The sacrifice of the lamb and the anointing of the blood on the doors had a prophetic meaning, depicting the suffering of Jesus Christ, giving salvation through the shedding of his blood.

During his 33 years of life, Jesus, the son of God, gave people a new teaching, performed many miracles and, having suffered torment, accepted death in the name of the salvation of all mankind and for the atonement of human sins. The crucifixion of Christ took place on the eve of Easter - this is how the ancient prophecy of God was fulfilled, the lamb shed his blood.

After his death, Christ descended into hell and freed the souls of those who believed the word of God, and then rose from the dead, thereby proclaiming the salvation of mankind and the acquisition of new life.

The resurrection of Jesus is the hope for eternal life and deliverance from sins. This is a holiday of joy, new life and faith in salvation. We wish you good luck and don't forget to press the buttons and

07.04.2015 10:09

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We will tell you about the history of the holiday Easter, about Easter traditions and treats. Let's talk about Easter traditions in different countries. Let's answer the question: why are eggs painted for Easter and blessed in church?

The Orthodox call this day “the holiday of holidays,” “the triumph of triumphs.”

This is the most important day of the Orthodox church year. Literally translated into Russian, the word “Easter” means “transition.” This is the resurrection (transition) of Jesus Christ from the dead, this is the transition from darkness to light, this is the victory of good over evil.

Easter It is celebrated not only by Orthodox Christians, but also by representatives of other branches of Christianity. There are similar holidays in other religions.

Even many non-believers celebrate the holiday of holidays, because Easter is the beginning of spring, the awakening of nature.

Easter does not have an exact date of celebration. Every year it is calculated according to a special church calendar.

From the history of Easter

On the third day after the burial of Christ, early on Sunday morning, several women went to the tomb (to the cave) to bring incense intended for the body of Jesus. As they approached, they saw that the large stone blocking the entrance to the coffin had been rolled away, the coffin was empty, and the Angel of the Lord in snow-white robes was sitting on the stone. “Do not be afraid, for I know what you are looking for: Jesus crucified. He's not here. “He has risen, as he said,” the Angel addressed the frightened women. With fear and joy, the women hastened to tell the Apostles about what they had seen. “And behold, Jesus met them and said: Rejoice! And they approached, grabbed His feet and worshiped Him. Then Jesus says to them: Do not be afraid; go, tell my brothers, so that they go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” On the bright holiday of Easter, the Church calls on believers to “purify their senses and see Christ, shining with the impregnable light of the resurrection, and, singing the song of victory, hear clearly from Him: “Rejoice!”

A week before Easter, the entire Orthodox world celebrates Palm Sunday.

From the history of Palm Sunday

A week before Easter, the Lord and his disciples went to Jerusalem. Approaching the Mount of Olives, the Lord asked his disciples to bring a donkey and a donkey from a nearby village. Then he mounted a donkey and went to Jerusalem. Many people spread their clothes before him, while others cut branches from trees and laid them in Jesus' path. All the people glorified the Lord with loud shouts. Jerusalem greeted him at the entrance with green branches and shouts of “Hosanna!” (the rescue).

And today, Orthodox Christians stand with willow trees and candles during Matins on Palm Sunday. Christians glorify the Lord with the words: “Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

Easter is preceded by seven weeks Great Lent. The Church invites parishioners to think less at this time about physical benefits and more about spiritual ones.

The week before Easter is called Holy Week(week). Each day of the week is associated with the events of the last days of Christ’s earthly life.

Maundy Monday And Maundy Tuesday- a recollection of the last conversations of Jesus Christ with the people and disciples. These days in Rus' they clean houses, bake Easter cakes and cook eggs.

Great Wednesday. One of the twelve apostles of Christ, Judas Iscariot, being greedy for money, came to the high priests and said: “What will you give me if I betray Jesus to you?” They were delighted and offered him 30 pieces of silver. Since that time, Judas has been looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus Christ not in front of the people.

On Great Wednesday, during the evening service, the sacrament of consecration of oil, or unction, is performed.

Maundy Thursday- establishment of the sacrament of holy communion, betrayal of Judas. On Thursday of Holy Week, the most important gospel event is remembered in the divine service: the Last Supper, at which the Lord established the New Testament sacrament of holy communion.

On Maundy Thursday, when the Easter cakes are already baked, the house is in order and nothing earthly distracts us, Orthodox people go to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ at the morning liturgy, in remembrance of that very first Communion, which was established by the Savior at the Last Supper in Jerusalem. Maundy Thursday is not Maundy Thursday because on this day they go to the bathhouse or wipe the dust off furniture, but because people come to church to confess and take communion.

Great heel(Friday) - death of Jesus Christ on the cross, death of Judas. The final trial of Jesus Christ by Pilate, the scourging of the Savior. Jews accept responsibility for the death of the Lord on themselves and their descendants. The Savior with the cross goes to Golgotha. Crucifixion of the Lord at 12 noon. Darkness over the whole earth from 12 to 3 o'clock. At 3 o'clock - the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Earthquake. A warrior pierces the Savior's rib with a spear. Joseph takes off Christ's body and wraps it in a shroud. Burial of the Savior in a cave.

There is no liturgy on Good Friday, because on this day the Lord himself sacrificed himself, and the “Royal Hours” are celebrated.

At Vespers, the clergy lift the shroud (i.e., the image of Christ lying in the tomb) from the throne, as if from Golgotha, and carry it out of the altar into the middle. This is done in remembrance of the removal of Christ’s body from the cross and its burial.

On this day, you must definitely come to the Holy Shroud with your whole family, with your children and grandchildren, and bring even the little ones to this shrine. And in prayer, thank the Savior, who took upon himself the sins of the entire human race, and therefore each of us!

Holy Saturday- the day of remembrance of the presence of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ in the tomb, where it was laid by those who removed the Savior from the Cross, Joseph and Nicodemus. A special sign of the significance of Holy Saturday is the annual miraculous ignition of the Holy Fire in the Cave of the Holy Sepulcher in the Jerusalem Church of the Resurrection, which occurs on this day. The receipt of the Holy Fire from ancient times to the present day by the Patriarch of Jerusalem in front of a huge crowd of believers is one of the visible evidence of the truth of the Christian faith and gospel history.

For believers, Holy Saturday is a time of preparation for the celebration of the greatest holiday of the Holy Resurrection of Christ. Usually on this day, after the morning service in churches, the consecration of Easter cakes, Easter cakes and eggs for breaking the fast on Easter day begins.

Typically, consecration is performed like this: believers place their offerings (placed in a bag, plate or small basket) on a special table in the temple, inserting a candle into the Easter cake that is lit before the consecration begins. The priest reads a special prayer and sprinkles the offerings with holy water. At midnight, while singing the stichera “Thy Resurrection, O Christ the Savior,” a procession of the cross takes place around the temple. Then, with the doors closed, Easter Matins begins, and finally the clergy and worshipers enter the church. Joyful cries: “Christ is risen!” - will be heard all this bright day. The royal doors of the main altar will be open throughout the next week, in memory of the fact that when the Lord rose again, the sun did not set for a whole week, just as the sky will be open for another seven days.

This is how the Monk Theodore the Studite said about Easter: “Why do we wait so impatiently for Easter, which comes and goes? Haven't we celebrated it many times before? And this one will come and go - in the present age there is nothing permanent, but our days pass like a shadow, and life runs like a messenger gallops. And so on until we reach the end of real life.

So, someone might ask, shouldn’t we rejoice at Easter? - No, on the contrary, let's enjoy it much more - but that Easter that happens every day. What kind of Easter is this? - Cleansing of sins, contrition of heart, tears of vigil, clear conscience, mortification of earthly members: fornication, impurity, passions, evil desires and all other evil. Whoever is worthy to achieve all this celebrates Easter not just once a year, but every day.”

Easter traditions

On the eve of Easter, people bake in the house Easter cakes and paint the eggs with onion skins. You can paint eggs with multi-colored special dyes that are sold in stores, you can paint them with a thin brush, and stick beautiful stickers on them. Painted eggs look even brighter against the background of green grass, and a plate with grass is easy to prepare yourself. This is a fun creative activity.

Why are eggs painted and blessed at Easter?

Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene, preaching to Emperor Tiberius, encountered disbelief on his part. He told her: “A person cannot be resurrected, just as a white egg cannot itself become red.” And then the Lord gave such a sign that the white egg turned red, thereby confirming the preaching of Mary Magdalene. Therefore, on Easter, people traditionally paint, bless eggs and give them to each other.

By the way, there is a more prosaic explanation for where the custom of painting eggs with onion skins came from at Easter. During Lent, eggs could not be eaten as food - this is not a Lenten dish. But the chickens did not know about this and continued to lay eggs. There were no refrigerators then, and our wise ancestors noticed that if you boil eggs in onion skins, they can be stored for several weeks.

The festive Easter table is beautiful and joyful. It's fun to come up with new ways to decorate it. The main decoration of the table is, of course, Easter cakes and Easter cakes. If the Easter cakes are bought in a store, you should take the time to decorate them with icing and generously sprinkle them with colorful sugar. Then even store-bought Easter cakes will look original.

Plate for Easter

Ten days before Easter, you need to pour a little earth into the bottom of a beautiful deep plate. The soil is sold in flower shops. Mix wheat or oat grains with the soil. They can also be bought at the market or in a store. Pour the mixture until it is like a thin paste and keep in a warm room, watering from time to time. When the seeds begin to sprout, the blades of grass will stretch towards the light, and the plate must be turned frequently so that the grass grows straight. By Easter, the plate will be covered with thick green grass, on which you can put painted eggs.

EASTER TRADITIONS OF OTHER COUNTRIES

Belgium. The children are told that the bells are silent until Easter, because they have left for Rome and will return with a rabbit and eggs.

Greece. The soundtrack of the holiday also has an evangelical meaning. While reading the Gospel story about the death and resurrection of Christ, as soon as the earthquake in Jerusalem is mentioned, an unimaginable noise arises in the church. The parishioners, having waited, begin to hit the wooden stairs with sticks, and the elderly rattle the seats of the benches. The man-made “earthquake” thus symbolizes the opening (opening) of the tomb at the resurrection of Christ.

Bulgaria. Hundreds of large and small clay pots made before the holiday, decorated with good wishes, are thrown from the upper floors to commemorate the Easter victory over evil. Any passerby can take a shard from a broken pot for good luck.

Ukraine. On Easter Monday, the boys pour water on the girls, and the girls “take revenge” on them for this on Tuesday.

Family Easter Customs

As a rule, many relatives and friends gather for the Easter table. We should try to prepare an Easter gift for everyone: a beautiful egg and a small Easter cake.

For centuries, a favorite Easter game in Rus' was egg rolling. This game was arranged like this: they installed a wooden or cardboard “skating rink” (slide) and cleared a flat area around it, on which they laid out colored eggs, toys, and simple souvenirs. The playing children approached the “skating rink” one by one and each rolled their own egg. The prize was the object that the egg touched. Why not revive this custom? The “skating rink” can be made from any suitable board, for example from a bookshelf taken out of a closet.

Even at Easter, it is customary to “clink” eggs with each other, hitting the opponent’s egg with the blunt or sharp end of a colored hard-boiled egg. The one whose egg is not cracked wins.

It is customary to celebrate Christ on Easter. Old and young, children and adults, men and women kiss each other three times. It is customary for the younger ones to say “Christ is Risen!” They greeted them first, and the elders answered them: “Truly He is Risen.”

In Russia, as in other Orthodox countries, after the silence of the bells during Holy Days, the gospel rings especially solemnly on Easter itself. Throughout Bright Week - the week after Easter - anyone can climb the bell tower and ring in honor of the Resurrection of Christ.

The entire 2000-year history of Christianity is the preaching of an event that occurred on the spring morning of the month of Nisan, when Jesus Christ was crucified, and the day of His Resurrection immediately became the main holiday of Christians.

Although it all began much earlier, and the tradition of celebrating Easter is rooted in the deep Old Testament past.

Long before the birth of Christ, the Jewish people were enslaved by the Egyptian pharaoh for several centuries. Pharaoh invariably ignored the requests of the Israelis to let them go. In the last decades before the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, slavery became unbearable for them. The Egyptian authorities, concerned about the “excessive” number of Jews, even decided to kill all boys born to them.

The Prophet Moses, at the command of God, tried to achieve liberation for his people. And then the so-called “10 Egyptian plagues” followed - the entire Egyptian land (except for the place where the Jews lived) suffered from various misfortunes that befell the Egyptians here and there. This clearly spoke of Divine contempt for the chosen people. However, the pharaoh did not take the prophesied signs seriously; the ruler really did not want to part with free labor.

And then the following happened: the Lord, through Moses, commanded each Jewish family to slaughter a lamb, bake it and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, and ordered them to anoint the doorpost of their home with the blood of the slain lamb.

This was supposed to serve as a sign of the inviolability of the marked house. According to legend, the angel who killed all the Egyptian firstborns, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh's family to the firstborn of cattle, passed by Jewish houses (XIII century BC).

After this last execution, the frightened Egyptian ruler released the Jews from his lands that same night. Since then, Passover has been celebrated by the Israelis as the deliverance, exodus from Egyptian slavery and salvation from death of all Jewish firstborn males.

Old Testament celebration of Easter

The celebration of Passover (from the Hebrew verb: “Pesach” - “to pass”, meaning “to deliver”, “to spare”) lasted seven days. Every devout Jew had to spend this week in Jerusalem. During the holiday, only unleavened bread (matzo) was eaten in memory of the fact that the Jews’ exit from Egypt was very hasty, and they did not have time to leaven the bread, but took with them only unleavened bread.

Hence the second name of Passover - the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Each family brought a lamb to the Temple, which was slaughtered there according to a ritual specially described in the Law of Moses.

This lamb served as a prototype and reminder of the coming Savior. As the historian Josephus testifies, on Easter 70 A.D. 265 thousand young lambs and kids were slaughtered in the Jerusalem Temple.

The family baked the lamb, which was called Easter, and was sure to eat it completely on the evening of the first holiday. This meal was the main event of the celebration.

Bitter herbs (in memory of the bitterness of slavery), a paste of fruits and nuts, and four glasses of wine were required. The father of the family was supposed to tell the story of the exodus of the Jews from Egyptian slavery at the festive dinner.

Easter after the covenant

After the coming of Jesus Christ, the Old Testament celebration of Easter loses its meaning. Already in the first years of Christianity, it was understood as a prototype of the death and Resurrection of Christ. “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). “Our Passover, Christ, was sacrificed for us” (1 Cor. 5:7).

At present, it is difficult to determine exactly what date (in our chronology) the event of the Resurrection occurred.

In the Gospel we can read that according to the Jewish calendar, Christ was crucified on Friday, the 14th day of the first spring month of Nisan, and resurrected on the 16th day of Nisan, in the “first week” (after Saturday). Even among the first Christians, this day stood out from all the others and was called “the Day of the Lord.” Later in Slavic it was called "Sunday". Nissan corresponds to March-April.

The Jews lived not according to the solar calendar, but according to the lunar calendar, which differ from each other by 11 days (365 and 354, respectively). In the lunar calendar they accumulate very quickly compared to the astronomical year, and there are no rules for adjusting them.

In the 1st century A.D. The date of the celebration of Christian Easter did not bother anyone, because for Christians of that period, every Sunday was Easter. But already in the II-III centuries. The question arose about the most solemn celebration of Easter once a year.

In the 4th century, the Church began to celebrate Easter on the first Sunday after the spring full moon (no earlier than April 4 and no later than May 8 according to the new style).

The Bishop of Alexandria, on behalf of the Council, notified all the Churches with special Easter messages about the day on which, according to astronomical calculations, Easter falls. Since then, this has been the “holiday of holidays” and the “triumph of celebrations,” the center and pinnacle of the whole year.

How to celebrate Easter

Prepare for Easter in advance. The most important holiday is preceded by a seven-week fast - a time of repentance and spiritual cleansing.

The celebration itself begins with participation in the Easter service. This service is different from regular church services. Each reading and chant echoes the words of the catechetical word of St. John Chrysostom, which is read already when morning wakes up outside the windows of Orthodox churches: “Death! Where is your sting? Hell! Where is your victory?

At the Easter liturgy, all believers try to partake of the Body and Blood of Christ. And after the service is over, the believers “share Christ” - they greet each other with a kiss and the words “Christ is Risen!” and answer “Truly He is Risen!”

The celebration of Easter lasts forty days - exactly as long as Christ appeared to His disciples after the Resurrection. On the fortieth day He ascended to God the Father. During the forty days of Easter, and especially in the first week - the most solemn - people visit each other, give Easter cakes and colored eggs.

According to legend, the custom of dyeing eggs dates back to apostolic times, when Mary Magdalene, who arrived in Rome to preach the Gospel, presented an egg as a gift to Emperor Tiberius. Living according to the teacher’s commandment “do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth” (Matthew 6:19), the poor preacher could not buy a more expensive gift. With the greeting “Christ is risen!”, Mary handed the egg to the emperor and explained that Christ had risen from the tomb, like a chicken that would hatch from this egg.

“How can a dead person rise again? — followed the question of Tiberius. “It’s the same as if an egg would now turn from white to red.” And before everyone’s eyes, a miracle happened - the eggshell turned bright red, as if symbolizing the Blood shed by Christ.

Days of celebration should not be spent only in carefree fun. Previously, for Christians, Easter was a time of special feat of charity, visiting almshouses, hospitals and prisons, where people greeted “Christ is Risen!” brought donations.

Meaning of Easter

Christ sacrificed Himself to save all humanity from death. But we are not talking about physical death, because people have died and are dying, and this will last until the Second Coming of Christ in His power and glory, when He will resurrect the dead.

But after the Resurrection of Jesus, physical death is no longer a dead end, but a way out of it. The inevitable end of human life leads to a meeting with God. In Christianity, hell and heaven are understood not as places, but as states of a person who is ready or not ready for this meeting.

The meaning of the New Testament Passover is well expressed in iconography. Now more familiar is the icon of the Resurrection, where Christ stands in shining white robes on a stone rolled away from His tomb.

Until the 16th century, the Orthodox tradition did not know such an image. The festive icon of the Resurrection is called “The Descent of Christ into Hell.” On it, Jesus leads the first people from hell - Adam and Eve - they are from those who kept the true faith and waited for the Savior. This also sounds in the main Easter hymn: “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and giving life to those in the tombs.”

The significance of the resurrection of Christ makes Easter the most significant celebration among all other holidays - the Feast of Feasts and the Triumph of Triumphs. Christ conquered death. The tragedy of death is followed by the triumph of life. After His resurrection, He greeted everyone with the word: “Rejoice!”

There is no death. The apostles announced this joy to the world and called it the “Gospel” - the good news of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This joy overwhelms a true Christian when he hears: “Christ is risen!”, and the main words of his life: “Christ is risen indeed!”

A special feature of the Gospel of Christ is the accessibility of its understanding and fulfillment of the commandments of eternal life for any culture, any age and condition. Everyone can find the Path, Truth and Life in it. Thanks to the Gospel, the pure in heart see God (Matthew 5:8), and the Kingdom of God dwells within them (Luke 17:21).

The celebration of Easter continues throughout the week after Easter Sunday - Bright Week. Fasts on Wednesday and Friday are canceled. These eight days of celebrating Christ's Resurrection are, as it were, one day belonging to eternity, where “there will be no more time.”

Starting from the day of Easter until it is celebrated (on the fortieth day), believers greet each other with the greeting: “Christ is Risen! “Truly He is Risen!”