Христос воскресe!

 Christ is Risen, Truly He is Risen!  

Well, we made it!  Holy Week seemed very long this year, but the midnight celebration was good.  The kids went back to school today after having the week and yesterday off for spring break.  

I didn't get pictures of all the services this week because I sing in the choir, and our church doesn't do Bridegroom Matins on Monday and Tuesday, but here's a few pics of the latter part of Holy Week and Pascha.  Some of the pics are from other parishioners who shared them with the parish.

Holy Thursday morning Vesperal Liturgy for the Last Supper

Holy Thursday Passion Gospels

On kliros for Holy Friday Vespers midafternoon

Before Lamentations on Friday evening

Holy Saturday morning Vesperal Liturgy, 15 Old Testament readings

Blessing bread after the Holy Saturday liturgy

Almost ready for Pascha!

Reading the Acts of the Apostles before the Midnight Office and procession

"Come receive ye the Light that is never overtaken by night!"

Midnight procession around the city block

Singing ‘Christ is Risen!’ on the street in front of the church.

All lit up and open for the feast of feasts!

Agape Vespers on Sunday evening

Approximately 4:00 a.m. Sunday, because I know you are dying to see what I wore...I had so much sturm und drang over clothes this year. My original outfit involved sweaters and heavy skirts, but the weather turned suddenly summer-like overnight and so I went with this instead after much dithering and hand- wringing.  The skirt is a new purchase and I had planned to return it because it is too big, but it was the only thing that really worked for the weather and color scheme. So here's me with needle and thread altering the skirt at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday before heading to church at 10:00, but I'm quite happy with how it all came out!

As I wrote previously, this Lent was...a lot.  To be honest, I'm still feeling it.  Having three teenagers and a tween is intense!  I did better with the Slavonic this year--every service gets a little better, but my brain still gets tired after thinking in Russian and Slavonic for several hours.  I would love to get to the point of fluid chanting in Slavonic, but for now, I'm happy to stumble through the choral bits.  For whatever reason, I basically didn't sleep last night, so with the sleep deficit still from Pascha night, I'm a bit foggy today.  Here's hoping for a better night's sleep tonight!