Holy Week guide · Day 8 of 8
Resurrection (Pascha)
Christ is Risen - Truly He is Risen
On this page
- Date
- Length
- 2-3 hours
What happens today
The Feast of the Resurrection - Pascha - is the greatest and most joyful celebration in the Coptic Orthodox Church. After the solemn week of fasting, mourning, and walking with Christ through His Passion, the Church erupts in jubilation. The service begins late on Saturday night in a darkened church. At midnight, the lights are turned on, the priest announces ‘Ekhristos Anesti!’ (Christ is Risen!) and the people respond ‘Alithos Anesti!’ (Truly He is Risen!). Bells ring, cymbals clash, and the congregation processes around the church carrying candles, singing hymns of victory. The altar cloths change from black to white, the icons are unveiled, and the entire atmosphere transforms from mourning to ecstatic joy. The Paschal greeting - ‘Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!’ - is exchanged between the faithful for the next forty days. The Resurrection is the foundation of the Christian faith, for as St. Paul wrote, ‘If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty’ (1 Corinthians 15:14). The Coptic Church celebrates this victory with an intensity that reflects two thousand years of unbroken tradition.
If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.
At St. Stephen
18937 Kz Rd., Cypress, TX 77433
This day's service times are posted on the schedule as Holy Week nears.
The services and their readings
Open a service to read what it remembers.
Feast of the Resurrection
Pascha: the passage complete
The word “Pascha” means passage - from slavery to freedom, from death to life. The entire arc of Holy Week is now visible: from the Passover lamb of Exodus, whose blood on the doorposts saved Israel from death, to the Lamb of God whose blood on the Cross saves all humanity from eternal death. The fifty-day Resurrection season (Khamsin) begins today and extends to Pentecost Sunday. During this period, no kneeling is permitted in the Coptic Church - the faithful stand as those who have been raised with Christ. The fasting is over. The mourning is behind. What began with palm branches and Hosanna ends with the greeting that will be exchanged for the next forty days: Christ is Risen - Truly He is Risen.
Evening Incense & Procession
The close of the week
The evening incense (Vespers) on Resurrection Sunday brings the week’s cycle to a close with a brief, joyful service. The Paschal hymns are sung again. Incense is offered. In many parishes, a second procession around the church takes place with candles and singing. The Holy Week observance is complete, but the Resurrection season stretches ahead for fifty days until Pentecost. The Paschal greeting remains active throughout this period. For those who attended every service of the week, Resurrection Sunday evening often carries a particular quality - the intensity of the week is over, and the community that prayed together through the night must return to ordinary life. The Church provides the fifty-day season for exactly this reason: the joy is not supposed to be one night but fifty days.