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Pascha |
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Question: I've noticed that most Orthodox refer to Easter as "Pascha" which is Greek for "Pesach" or "Passover." This is appropriate since we celebrate Christ's passing over from death to life. But there are Ukrainians who prefer to use "Velykden" or "Voskresinnia" instead of "Pascha" which they say is the Russian usage. How would you respond? |
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Answer:
Dr. Alexander Roman alex@unicorne.org
In fact, the term "Pascha" is the most
liturgically correct form to denote the feast of feasts that is the
Resurrection of our Lord, God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
It is not, nor can it be, a term over
which Russians or anyone else have a monopoly. It is the historic,
Orthodox Christian term. Both "Velykden" or "the Great Day" and "Voskre/sennya"
(the Resurrection) are appropriate to use to denote what the West calls
"Easter Sunday."
However, when we say "Pascha," we are
actually referring not to the day of His Resurrection, but to OLGS Jesus
Christ Himself IN His Resurrection. Therefore, we cannot refer to
Easter Sunday as "Pascha," but to the "day of the Holy Pascha" or "Den
Svyatoji Paskhy" since this is the day OF the Risen Christ.
It is IN Him Who first passed over from
death to life that we can experience our own passing over from death to
life.
The beginning words of that most beautiful
prayer toward the end of the Matins of the Holy Pascha illustrates
this: O Great and All-Holy Pascha, Christ! (O Pascho Velyka i
Naysvyatisha, Khryste!) There are other examples, of course.
In addition, and as Metropolitan Ilarion
Ohienko (+memory eternal!) discussed on numerous occasions in his works,
it is entirely inappropriate to use the word "Voskresinnya" to denote
Christ's Resurrection, even though this practice seems widespread among
our people.
As the Metropolitan stated most clearly in
a foot-note in his Bible translations, "Voskresinn/ya" (with the accent
on the third syllable from the left) suggests that "someone resurrects
someone else." Therefore, it is appropriate to use this word in the
Creed when saying "the resurrection of the dead" or "voskresinnya
mertvykh."
But we should only use the literary
Ukrainian term, "Voskre/sennya" to denote Christ's own Resurrection from
the dead (with the accent on the second syllable from the left). This
denotes that Christ our God truly raised Himself from the dead and so
demonstrated His Divinity in the most powerful way possible ("I have
power to lay down My life and I have power to take it up again.")
And the Russians refer to every "Sunday"
as "Voskrese/nnya" (even during Soviet times) using the Slavonic word
with the accent on the third syllable from the left. This was formerly
the practice of the Ukrainian Church as well and of other Churches who
followed early Christian practice and referred to the first day of the
week as the "Day of the Lord's Resurrection."
So "Velykden" is a way of describing the
day itself and "Voskre/sennya" refers to Christ's own Divine ACTION of
rising from the dead.
But only "Holy Pascha" refers to Christ
Himself and our passing over from death to life in our Risen and Living
Lord.
Metropolitan Ilarion Ohienko once remarked
about those Ukrainians who felt that the three-Bar Cross with the
slanted foot-rest was "Russian" and should be left to the Russians.
After writing a book on the history of the
subject, he concluded by saying that that Cross is truly the "Ukrainian
national Cross, and to reject it would be to commit a great act of
spiritual suicide!"
The same can be said of the term "Pascha."
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Ukrainian Orthodoxy |
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