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A Priest's Photo Report: In Preparation for Pascha



1. Great Saturday



On that day, full of services and worries, I just had no time to take photos. But I could not but take my camera and try to save several beautiful moments as a remembrance of that Holy Saturday.

2. In the Church



We were telling about the symbolism of the Paschal food.

…Once Mary Magdalene visited Roman Emperor Tiberius and told him, the persecutor of Christians, that Christ had been risen from the dead. The emperor took an egg that was lying before him and exclaimed, “It is impossible for Christ to resurrect just like it is impossible for this egg turn into red!” The egg in his hand immediately became red.

Since ancient times, faithful people colored eggs and gave them each other.
And here is a Paschal kulich. Earlier pagans cooked in the beginning of spring a sweet flavorful bread that symbolized the joy of awakening from winter and darkness to summer and warm.

However, Christians reconsidered that tradition. They began to bake tasty bread for Pascha as a symbol of paschal joy and festivity. We know that Pascha is the beginning of a new era, the sign of a new life’s beginning. The same is with the Paschal bread: kulich is a foretype of the bread of our future beatitude.
Cheese Pascha in the shape of a pyramid is the symbol of Christ’s Church. What is cheese? It is milk that have changed. Who is a Christian? It is a person transfigured by the Holy Spirit. A cheese Pascha means all of us, changed by the Holy Spirit and gathered into the Body of Christ – the Church.

3. Painted eggs


Our loyal parishioners, who come every year to consecrate their Paschal food, bring their gracefully painted eggs.

4. What a Beauty!



5. Prayer


This woman is just praying before the icon for something what is important to her…

6. Preparing for Consecration


Children are not dormant, while their parents are placing their dishes so that a priest can consecrate them.

7. Children



Those children were eating the peels from the kulich (which is of quite a strange shape), while their mom got distracted.

8. Consecration



Our priests were consecrating paschal foods until the late at night. Then we had an hour’s rest… And then the feast of light and joy began: Christ is risen!


Source: https://azbyka.ru/parkhomenko/foto/prochee/podgotovka-k-pashe/1/image/fotor6197/

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