#Orthodox Easter Sunday

[ami-ven]

Happy Orthodox Easter Sunday!

[countvonreutern]

To those of you who celebrate the resurrection of Christ today, The Count of Münnich and Reutern wishes you all a very happy Orthodox Easter! Christ is risen!

[seraphim-eternal]

A little while, and you will see me no longer. Again in a little while, and you will see me.

John 16:16

[idylls-of-the-divine-romance]

Christ is born! Glorify Him! Christ is come from heaven! Go and meet Him! Christ is on earth! Arise to Him! Sing to the Lord, all you inhabitants of earth, and all you peoples, praise Him, and with merriment extol Him who is glorified!

First Hiermos of the First Ode of the Feast, Christmas Matins

(Cool trivia - the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom has the refrain "Save us, Son of God risen from the dead. We sing to You: Alleluia". Today it's "Save us, Son of God born of a virgin. We sing to You: alleluia."

Yes! I love these hehehe. 

What I particularly like about this one is how much it feels like the angels who appeared to the shepherds. (Had to read those verses in church Sunday) I will refrain from obsessing over “glorify” again since I already did they lol but seriously this matin (which btw is sword I have never used in my life) really makes me feel like We today in the 21 century are in the same position as those shepherds in the first: lowly and servile who have been looked upon with the utmost favor that our God and King would become a baby for us. And so yes “all you inhabitants of earth, and all you peoples,” from eternity past into the unseen future — all of the cosmos must gather in one voice and praise him and bring him the utmost glory. 

(THE RESURRECTION AS A REBIRTH!!!!!!)

[jupiterovprsten]

Srećan Uskrs. Hristos voskrese.

[andijaart]

+++🙏🏻God Bless🕊️+++

THE BRIGHT RESURRECTION OF CHRIST. THE EASTER.

💫International Orthodox Art Corporation Andcross May the blessing of the Lord be upon you!

[robulz]

i am Thinking about orthodox easter sunday in the hetalia universe... the little guys celebrating together...

greece cutely roasting a whole sheep corpse with the head still on over the fire going ^___^ bulgaria moping all morning because serbia beat him at the smash-your-boiled-egg-against-another-person's-egg-until-one-breaks game (serbia cheated and used a fake egg made of wood because he sucks (affectionate)) romania trying to comfort him while babysitting moldova (he's managed to get the red paint from the eggs all over his face and he's very upset because he just found out what kokoreç is made out of). cyprus is trying to drink enough raki to knock himself out and ukraine was invited but didn't show up because she's better than this!! at some point they set fireworks off and someone DOES explode. happy easter everyone❤️

[carbuckety]

ITS EASTER ITS EASTER YIPPEEEEEE

[m-jay-gee]

happy greester

[petrescatraian]

It's #SilentSunday here in Mogoșoaia, Romania, where we celebrate the Orthodox Easter today. Happy Easter everyone!

[ap0st3u5]

HAPPY ORTHODOX EASTER YALL!!!!

[ironcookielampmoney]

Happy Easter

Congratulations on the bright and blessed holiday of Easter! Christ is risen! Easter is established in honor of the resurrection of Jesus, which is the center of all biblical history and the basis of Christian teaching. The tradition of celebrating Easter is rooted in the Old Testament past - to the history of the liberation of the Jewish people from the slavery of the Egyptians. Passover, one of the main Jewish holidays, is dedicated to this historical event. After the coming of Jesus Christ, the Old Testament celebration of Passover in honor of the liberation of the Jewish people lost its meaning. In the early years of Christianity, Easter was interpreted as a prototype of the death and Resurrection of Christ.

[6vaguebook]

H A P P Y E A S T E R S U N D A Y Y ' A L L

[countvonreutern]

To those of you who celebrate the resurrection of Christ today, His Serene Highness The Count of Münnich and Reutern wishes you all a very happy Orthodox Easter! Christ is risen!

[idylls-of-the-divine-romance]

Submitting some Theophany Matins for your analysis and enjoyment and my enjoyment of your analysis.

At Your epiphany at River Jordan, O Christ, when by the Forerunner, O Savior, You were baptized, the voice from heaven testified that You are the beloved Son. Therefore You were shown to be with the Father beginningless, and the Holy Spirit came down as a dove and alighted on You. In Him we are illumined and cry out, Glory to God in Trinity.

Jordan River, tell us do: What did you see and were amazed? I saw naked Him Whom none can see, and shuddered in fear. And how was I not to shudder at Him and be frightened? The Angels, when they saw Him also shuddered in awe. And heaven was astonished, and astounded was earth. The sea recoiled along with all things both visible and invisible. For Christ appeared in the River Jordan, to sanctify the waters.

You who are God, uncircumscribed, without beginning, and ineffable, came to earth, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, because in Your tender mercy, O Master, You did not bear to see the human race being tortured by the devil; so You came and saved us. We acknowledge Your gift, we proclaim Your mercy, we do not hide Your goodness. You freed the offspring of our nature. By being born You sanctified a virgin womb. All creation extolled You at Your epiphany. You, our God, were seen upon the earth and lived among men. When You sent down Your all-holy Spirit from heaven and crushed the heads of the dragons who were lurking in the water, You sanctified the River Jordan.

You are our God, who by water and the Spirit renewed nature that was worn out by sin. You are our God, who by the flood waters in the days of Noah washed away sin. You are our God, who through the sea by Moses freed the Hebrew people from slavery to Pharaoh. You are our God, who split the rock in the desert, and waters flowed, and brooks flooded, and You gave the people water to drink and satisfied them. You are our God, who with water and fire by Elijah disabused Israel of the deceit of Baal.

You revealed Yourself today on earth, O Master, and Your light was stamped on us, who in the knowledge of the truth, O Lord, extol Your epiphany. You came; You revealed yourself, O unapproachable Light.

Okay so I’m late but everyone knew I was going to be. That said, I really do enjoy these. Analyzing literature is one of my favorite things to do and theopoetics is the best. 

Also spoiler alert: I really enjoyed these.

“At Your epiphany at River Jordan, O Christ-” Okay so I’ve told you this before but this passage in the gospels is so important for me. The Father declaring his love for the Son by the means of the Spirit. This is actually why I am still a trinitarian (I was binitarian for like a week last year), why I don’t believe in the filioque, my answer for the question of “Who is God?” — like I said, very beloved passage of mine. “In Him [the Holy Spirit] we are illumined and cry out, Glory to God in Trinity.” Whoa. That is so cool. Reminds me of Moses on Sinai, glowing after his intimacy with God. 

“Jordan River, tell us do:“ WERE TALKING TO THE RIVER??? AND THE RIVER TALKS BACK!!!! Did not see that coming. Very cool. “The Angels, when they saw Him also shuddered in awe. And heaven was astonished, and astounded was earth. The sea recoiled along with all things both visible and invisible. For Christ appeared in the River Jordan, to sanctify the waters.” I love this. It’s very cosmic. From the angels to the to the river — all of creation trembles at the unveiling of God to the world. Also the seas: very popular biblical metaphor (and one I often use) to talk about the nations. So in the sanctification of the waters is God coming to dwell in all of humanity, Jew and nonjew.

“You who are God, uncircumscribed, without beginning, and ineffable, came to earth, taking the form of a servant” OMG THE KENOSIS!!!!! One of my favorite NT poems. Oh my goodness how could it not be! That God would become man!? The king, a slave!? Son of the Heavenly Father, son of a poor girl and a carpenter?? “taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, because in Your tender mercy, O Master, You did not bear to see the human race being tortured by the devil” okay this is good. I love the juxtaposition of God taking the form of a servant and being called “Master”. Nice. Also the contrast between the “tender mercy” (I will restrain myself but. Chesed.) and our torture at the hands of the accuser. “We acknowledge Your gift, we proclaim Your mercy, we do not hide Your goodness.” Okay this gives me Jonah vibes. I talk a lot about how Jonah found the chesed of God to be so horrifying he’s rather die (mood). But here, we as the church have none of that terror. We receive his gift of love with open arms and proclaim it to the ends of the earth ��� delighting in it! Because again how could we not: “You freed the offspring of our nature.” “By being born You sanctified a virgin womb. All creation extolled You at Your epiphany. You, our God, were seen upon the earth and lived among men.” I like how this once centers on the incarnation. God redeeming matter via his incarnation; I imagine the beasts surrounding the divine babe as bowing down to him as they do in classical art. This matin really comes full circle in an amazing way: begins by extolling the transcendence of the God Most High; revel in the glory of the kenosis and the magnitude of divine love; delight in the incarnation; and finally "sent down Your all-holy Spirit from heaven and crushed the heads of the dragons who were lurking in the water, You sanctified the River Jordan." Oh my freaking goodness. Idk if i've told you this but i kind of have a thing for dragon imagery in scripture. It’s just really, really cool. Anyway, the “you crushed the heads of the dragon” is a reference to either (or both) the psalms and Isaiah but either way those are riffing on the serpent crusher/dragon slayer from Gen 3:15. I need to meditate on this though. In this matin it links the crushing of dragon’s head to the coming of the Holy Spirit rather than the crucifixion. The only thing that comes to mind is the association of violent empires (i.e Babylon/Rome) to dragons and the fact that at Pentecost (and all the other occasions of mass Spiritual baptism) happen when barriers of nationality and ethnicity are transgressed. Like I said tho, I need to meditate on this. Edit: okay, I’m back, so the connection is between the Jesus baptism, at which the Spirit descended upon him (like at the flood and in Gen 1), and that is when he crushes the heads of the dragon and sanctified the River Jordan . The narrative following this in all of the Synoptics is the tempting in the wilderness (Matthews version is the best. Mark’s version is cool because of the beasts. Luke’s order is weird imo). Interestingly, when the slanderer quotes the psalm (idr which one) he quotes verses 11 and 12 (“the messengers will not allow your feet to stumble upon a stone” etc etc). Conveniently, and hilariously imo, he doesn’t quote the next verse which is about how God will empower the psalmist to crush the chaos monsters (lions and scorpions specifically). Which is ofc what Jesus goes on to do. I still haven’t quite connected this to the rest of the matin but progress 

“water and the Spirit” is this about something other than just baptism? It’s making the chord in my brain go off but I can’t place it. Sounds like a psalm or a latter prophet. Anyway. This might be my favorite because — I’m not gonna quote because I’d have to just quote the whole thing it’s so good — the connection of Jesus baptism with the cosmic baptism of the flood that brought cleansing and the baptism of Israel that liberated them from slavery and then also the splitting of the rock (that phrasing is amazing. Need to meditate on that) — actually let me rest on this bit: the rock is split and the waters flood. This language is creation and decreation language (the waters split in Gen 1). And with that strange mixture the people are given life in the death-land. Something something this is about the cross and the side wound which is split as the water of life pours forth. So, a baptism that brings cleansing, liberation, life by means of death, and then finally Elijah. Who with water and fire (a phrase that speaks of spiritual baptism to me) brings enlightenment to those who are deceived. One final thought because this has been on my mind: the use of “You are our God” (like in the Our Father prayer) gets rid of any feelings of individualism. God is not just “my God” but “Our God”. I’m just pointing this out because of been thinking about this recently. 

“You revealed Yourself today on earth, O Master, and Your light was stamped on us, who in the knowledge of the truth, O Lord, extol Your epiphany. You came; You revealed yourself, O unapproachable Light.” Oh my goodness this reminds me of the “Logos” hymn in John. The emphasis on light and knowledge. But also, this is epiphany and so ofc this is also about Matthew: when that nations followed the light to worship at the City of God (Isaiah 61 I think), who had become a baby boy. “You revealed yourself, O unapproachable Light” reminds me of the kenosis again. Our God and King became a baby and a slave. Word become flesh.

[suetravelblog]

Orthodox Easter Belgrade Serbia