THE PASCHAL ENCYCLICAL

In the joyous Paschal Matins that precedes the Divine Liturgy, one of the most triumphal hymns of this resplendent feast is the first Sticheron after the Praises:

A sacred Pascha hath been shown forth to us today; a new and holy Pascha, a mystic Pascha, an all-venerable Pascha, a Pascha that is Christ the Redeemer; a spotless Pascha, a great Pascha, a Pascha of the faithful, a Pascha that hath opened unto us the gates of Paradise, a Pascha that doth hallow all the faithful.

The word "Pascha" comes from the Hebrew which means "a passing, or crossing over" — hence, the word "Passover". Our English language, oddly enough, adopted the word "Easter", most likely from "Eostre" or "Eastre" (whence also our English word "east"), which in ancient times was the name of a dawn goddess, whose festival was celebrated at the vernal equinox. Most European languages, however, use a form of Pascha for the name of this feast (French: Pâques; Italian: Pasqua; Spanish: Pascua; Dutch: Pask). And, of course, in the languages of all our Orthodox countries, "Pascha" is what we call this holy feast.

Passover is the Jewish feast held on the fourteenth of the month of Nisan, according to the Hebrew lunar calendar, and it commemorates the "passing over" of the houses of the Israelites, whose door-posts were marked with the blood of the lamb, when the Egyptians were smitten with the death of their first-born. It also brings to mind the deliverance of the Israelites from the hosts of Pharaoh, when the Red Sea opened and the Hebrew people, led by the holy Prophet Moses, passed over safely, whereas the Egyptians perished when the sea closed over them and drowned them. This great miracle is recorded in the fifteenth chapter of Exodus, part of which is included in the First Ode of the Holy Psalter:

Let us sing unto the Lord, for gloriously is He glorified; horse and rider hath He hurled into the sea. . . The chariots of Pharaoh and his hosts He hurled into the sea; the chosen mounted captains He plunged into the Red Sea. . .Until Thy people pass over, O Lord, until they pass over, even this Thy people which Thou didst take for Thine own.

In the third chapter of the Book of Jesus of Navi, it is recorded how this Jesus also led the people over the Jordan River into the promised land, in a "pass over".*

For us Orthodox Christians, who are the "New Israel", this holy feast, our "new and holy Pascha", has also become a passover. What does this mean?

In his Second Letter to the Corinthians, the holy Apostle Paul, the teacher of the nations, says: "Although we have known Christ according to the flesh, now we know Him no longer" (II Cor. 5:16). Why do we "now know Him no longer" as we knew Him according to the flesh?

Saint Leo, the Pope of Rome, answers this question in his homily, On the Resurrection of the Lord. The Saint says that we now no longer know Christ as we knew Him before because "the resurrection of our Lord was not the end of His Body; it was Its change. Its quality was changed: and the Body which could suffer crucifixion became impassible; what could be killed, became immortal; what could be wounded, became invulnerable. And rightly [did the Apostle Paul say] that the Body of Christ is no longer known in that state in which we knew It; for there remains in It no thing that can suffer, nothing that is weak."

"And what wonder that the Apostle should say this of the Body of Christ," continues Saint Leo, "when he says it of all Christians: ‘And henceforth we know no man according to the flesh’ (II Cor. 5:16). For in that moment in which He Who is the prototype of all that we hope for went on before us, a beginning of our own resurrection in Christ took place in Him Who died for us all."

Thus, as faithful Christians, we die to the world that we might live in Christ; therefore, we too, like Him, shall be changed. We too are transfigured and pass over from captivity to freedom, from a state of weakness to one of strength, from dishonor to divine glory and honor. Together with Christ, we too experience a passing over from death unto life, from corruption to incorruption, from mortality to immortality, in which we become "a new creation in Christ" (II Cor. 5:17). Truly, "a sacred Pascha"—a sacred passing over—"hath been shown forth to us today, a Pascha of the faithful, a Pascha that hath opened unto us the gates of Paradise!" In leading us through the darkness of death into life, Christ has worked for us a far greater sign than He worked for Israel of old. Wherefore, "let us sing unto the Lord, for gloriously is He glorified."