LEWISTON – To Jack Clifford, it’s the time when his faith, like the season, blossoms.
“You can’t help but be excited,” said Clifford, a lifelong member of the Eastern Orthodox Church. “It’s the ultimate reality for us.”
On Sunday, he will celebrate the church’s Holy Week, which begins with Palm Sunday and ends one week later with Easter, or as the Easter Orthodox Church calls it, “Pascha.”
At Lewiston’s Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, the event is to be celebrated with daily observances, some somber and some joyous.
“We’re lamenting Christ’s death but with the knowledge of his resurrection,” said the Rev. Ted Toppses, who leads the Lewiston church.
On Sunday, Holy Trinity will celebrate Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights, services will recognize the symbolic marriage between Christ and the church.
And on Thursday, the church will mark the Last Supper.
“We build up to this all year long,” Toppses said. In the weeks prior to Easter, Orthodox Christians fast. Many give up meat. Others also give up fish, dairy and olive oil as well.
It’s about disciplining oneself against the body’s desires. By the time they reach Easter, when the fasting ends, folks are ready to celebrate.
On Friday night, they will gather with candles, commemorating Christ’s death with a wooden box to resemble his tomb.
“It’s bittersweet,” Toppses said.
However, everyone knows how the story turns out.
Only rarely does the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrate Easter at the same time as western Christian churches. Last year, the holidays happened to coincide. This year they’re about as far away as they can get.
The church sets the date for Easter using calculations set nearly 17 centuries ago. The church’s First Ecumenical Council determined the date to be after the start of Jewish Passover, on the Sunday that follows the first full moon after the vernal equinox. If the full moon happens to fall on a Sunday, Easter is observed the following Sunday.
At Holy Trinity, the holiday will be celebrated in its first moments.
On Saturday night, May 1, the congregation will gather at the church. At the stroke of midnight, the lights will go out and Toppses will invite people to enter the night.
People will celebrate with eggs, painted red to symbolize the blood of Christ. And they’ll announce in unison: “Christ is risen.”
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