Tast & See Cookbook Now for Sale!
Just after midnight on Sunday, April 4, Fr. Ambrose Arrington faced his congregation at Holy Apostles Orthodox Church in Bixby, Oklahoma and shouted, “Christ is risen!” Despite having been awake all night, the throng of nearly one hundred faithful joyfully thundered back, “Indeed, He is risen!” And so began what is known by Eastern Orthodox Christians throughout the world as The Feast of Feasts or simply, Pascha—better known by Westerners as Easter. For the crowd assembled at Holy Apostles, Pascha was the beginning of a celebration that lasted for the rest of the day and into the next week.
In those early morning hours at Holy Apostles, the interior of St. Matthew’s chapel was bathed in light from over one hundred candles as the congregation exuberantly sang, “Shine, shine, O new Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee!” Ruby Darnall and Brenda Haggaii had arranged over 300 flowers inside the chapel—lilies, hydrangeas, pompous white daisies, carnations and roses. Along with the incense wafting from the priest’s swinging censer, the air was thick with an intoxicating aroma. The culmination of the midnight Paschal Liturgy with Holy Communion rounded out a worship experience which thrilled every sense and filled the hearts of all those present with the joy of Christ’s resurrection.
At about two o’clock in the morning, the crowd walked from chapel to meeting hall where they had placed their Pascha baskets. The dozens of baskets were filled with rich foods which had been abstained from during the forty day fast prior to Pascha—imported cheeses, pizza, bacon, steak, boiled eggs, chocolate, yogurt, beer. One basket simply held a sack of fast-food hamburgers. Fr. Ambrose stood before two tables overflowing with baskets and blessed the food with holy water, signifying that the time for fasting had past.
Only hours later on Sunday morning, George Michalopulos and Brad Bole began setting up a spit which turned a New Zealand lamb over hot coals in preparation for the church’s seventh annual agape picnic. At 3 PM on Sunday, the whole church and many visitors came back out to Holy Apostles to pray and feast together. Elaine Sames, who oversaw this year’s picnic, said that in addition to the lamb, there were 20 pounds of brisket, about 100 hamburgers and 70 hotdogs cooked on the premises. Parishoners all chipped in to bring chips, side dishes, desserts and beverages. By the end of the day, there would be hardly any leftovers from the feast.
Throughout the evening, church members organized easter egg hunts, sack races, an egg relay race (which surprisingly resulted in not a single crack on any egg), and touch football (which had less benign results). Marie Adams, Kate Hanson and Avery Hanson were painting religious and festive designs on the faces of the children. Three year-old Henry Pope, for his part, was content to have a Superman logo emblazoned on his cheek. For Elaine Sames, the best part of the picnic was “just watching the children play.” Indeed, young and old alike came together as one big family to enjoy this Feast of Feasts.
Pascha is the highest, holiest day for Orthodox Christians. His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, the head of the Orthodox Church in America, said in his archpastoral message to the church, “This Feast of Feasts is the ultimate celebration of the Lord of Lords, who came to be slain and given as food to the Faithful.” In the midst of the festive trappings of Pascha, however, His Beatitude offered a sober exhortation: “Let our feasting never obscure the Feast of Grace, the experience of the Presence of Jesus Christ, the Risen Lord, in our midst, the Host of our Feast.” Back at Holy Apostles, Fr. Ambrose said that what makes Pascha so significant is not the extraordinary amount of feasting, nor the beautiful music, but rather the experience of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. “The central fact of the Christian faith is that Jesus rose from the dead,” said Fr. Ambrose, “it was the chief cause for martyrdom in the apostolic age.” He went on to explain that early Christians would often be killed for refusing to deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ. At Pascha, the real thrill for Christians, is that they can joyously proclaim the resurrection of Christ, and in so doing, join hearts with believers throughout the ages. As Fr. Ambrose put it, “The experience of the apostles becomes our experience when we say, ‘Christ is risen!’”
And certainly, the people of Holy Apostles experienced something wonderful this year at Pascha. “Suddenly, you really feel the resurrection,” said choir director Amanda Hamm who described her experience as one of “unbelievable joy.” Even newcomers to the church were overwhelmed. Annora Gillis, who came to the church a few months ago with her husband and two young children spoke of her experience in Orthodoxy as “one big history lesson.” At the Pascha services she “felt more connected to the history of Christianity, feeling what Jesus’ followers must have felt right after His death and resurrection.” Rather than simply remembering the Christ’s resurrection or observing a theatrical performance of the event as she had at other churches, this year, Annora felt “more personally involved through the prayers and hymns of the church.”
This year’s Pascha celebration was definitely successful for Holy Apostles. “We hit our stride this year,” said Judith Dunbar, “It was well organized and the services flowed beautifully. For a church this size, the result was just stunning.” Without a doubt, those who experienced the worship, the feasting and the fellowship left changed and energized by the spirit of Christ in their midst. The joy in their hearts from that special day enabled them to go into the next week, Bright Week, joyously proclaiming, “Christ is risen! Indeed, He is risen!”
