Just before midnight on Saturday evening, April 19, 2025, clergy and faithful gathered at the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in New York, New York to repeat the Odes of Lamentation and offer the Orthros of the Resurrection in complete darkness, with the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom lasting until the early hours of Sunday, April 20, 2025.
Presiding over the service, Archbishop Elpidophoros of America was joined by Cathedral Dean, Archimandrite Chrysostomos Gilbert.
On the Great and Holy Feast of Pascha, Orthodox Christians celebrate the life-giving Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This feast of feasts is the most significant day in the life of the Church.
It is a celebration of the defeat of death, as neither death itself nor the power of the grave could hold our Savior captive. In this victory that came through the Cross, Christ broke the bondage of sin, and through faith offers us restoration, transformation, and eternal life.
In his Resurrection Proclamation at the service, His Eminence asked those present to “Look around this assembly gathered outside this Cathedral, see the smiles and hear the joy-filled voices, and behold the light that has been passed from person to person, which is a mirror of our souls,” because each of us “possesses the Light of Christ within [our] hearts…This is the gift of His Resurrection, the gift of Eternal Life, the gift of Pascha, and His passing over from death to Life.”
To close, His Eminence stressed to the faithful, “You have received the Unwaning Light; now share it among yourselves and with the world by acts of kindness and compassion, with Faith, Hope and Love.”
Photos: Orthodox Observer/Brittainy Newman
