The Paschal Stichera of the Byzantine Rite in English

One of the most magnificent features of the Byzantine Rite is a group of hymns known as the Paschal stichera. These are sung at Orthros and Vespers each day of Bright Week, as the Easter octave is called, and thenceforth on the Sundays of the Easter season, and on the Leave-taking of Easter, the day before the Ascension. As with all things Byzantine, there are variants in local usage; and they are also often sung during the Divine Liturgy in Eastertide while Communion is distributed. The church at which this video was taken, St Simeon Orthodox Church in Birmingham, Alabama, uses an English translation which keeps the traditional music of the Slavonic version, a wonderful example of how it is perfectly possible to employ the vernacular in sacred worship without destroying the musical patrimony of a rite. They also follow the custom of swinging the chandeliers on feast days; I have asked friends of mine who are quite knowledgeable about the Byzantine Rite what the significance of this is, and the answer is always pretty much, “It’s festive!” (I have tried to conform the translation below to what is actually being sung, but for obvious reasons, it is not always easy to make out exactly what they are saying.)

Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered! (Ps. 67, 2)

Today, a sacred Pascha is revealed to us, a new and holy Pascha, a mystical Pascha, a Pascha worthy of veneration, a Pascha that is Christ the Redeemer; a blameless (i.e. immaculate) Pascha, a great Pascha; a Pascha of the faithful; a Pascha that hath opened to us the gates of Paradise; a Pascha that sanctifies the faithful!

As smoke vanishes, so let them vanish! (Ps. 67, 3)

Come from the scene, O ye women, bearers of good tidings, and say to Sion: receive from us the good tidings of joy, of Christ’s Resurrection; exult and be glad, and adorn thyself, O Jerusalem, for thou hast seen Christ the King come forth from the tomb like a bridegroom in procession.

So let sinners perish at the presence of God and let the righteous be glad! (Ps. 67, 3-4)

The myrrh-bearing women at the break of dawn stood before the tomb of the Life-giver; they found an angel sitting upon the stone; he greeted them with these words: Why do you seek the living among the dead? Why do you mourn the incorrupt amid corruption? Go, proclaim the glad tidings to His disciples.

This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad therein! (Ps. 117, 24)

Pascha of beauty, Pascha, the Lord’s Pascha, the Pascha all-venerable hath dawned upon us. Pascha! let us embrace each other joyously. O Pascha! Ransom from affliction, for today, as from a bridal chamber Christ has shone forth from the tomb, and hath filled the women with joy, saying: proclaim the glad tidings to the Apostles.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

This is the day of Resurrection, let us be radiant for the feast, and let us embrace each other. Let us say: Brethren, even to them that hate us, let us forgive all things on the Resurrection, and so let us cry: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life! (3x)

To all those who celebrate the Feast of Feasts this week, we wish you every blessing in the Risen Lord - He is truly Risen!

Medieval Vespers of Easter

In the Breviary of St Pius V, Vespers of Easter Sunday and the days within the octave present only one peculiarity, namely, that the Chapter and Hymn are replaced by the words of Psalm 117, “Haec dies quam fecit Dominus; exsultemus et laetemur in ea. – This is the day that the Lord has made; let us be glad and rejoice therein.” In the Office, this is labelled an “antiphon”, but it is really the first part of the Gradual of the Mass, and is also sung at Lauds and the minor Hours.

The vast majority of medieval liturgical Uses, however, apart from those of the monastic orders, had a special form of Vespers which was used only in this week. I will summarize it broadly here (without giving every detail) from the critical edition of the Sarum Breviary published by Francis Procter and Christopher Wordsworth in 1882, since the rubrics of the Sarum liturgical books are generally more complete than those of others Uses. There were a great many variants to this ceremony, far too many to note here, but the basic outline is the same from one Use to another.

A page of a Dominican Breviary printed at Venice in 1477; Vespers of Easter Sunday begins in the 10th line of the left column. Although the Kyrie in place of ‘Deus in adjutorium’ at the beginning is one of the most consistent features of these Vespers, it was later removed from the Dominican Use, as were the verse of the gradual, the alleluia, and the sequence.

Essentially, the first part of these Vespers corresponds in form to the Mass of the Catechumens, with the psalmody representing the Epistle, and the Magnificat representing the Gospel. The chants which are sung between the Epistle and Gospel in the Mass are repeated between the Psalms and the Magnificat, with certain variations. The second part consists of a series of processions: first to the baptismal font, which is the most important part of the ceremony, and its raison d’être, then “ad crucem”, which is to say, to a chapel with a Crucifix as its main feature, where Masses for the Dead were traditionally said, and then to a chapel of the Virgin Mary. (At Sarum, where the cathedral itself was dedicated to the Virgin, this last part was done as the procession returned to the main choir.)

At the beginning, the customary “Deus in adjutorium” is replaced by the Kyrie of the Mass Lux et origo, which is given as Mass I in the modern Liber Usualis. The first three psalms of Sunday Vespers, 109, 110 and 111, are sung with a single antiphon consisting of four Alleluias, followed by the gradual and alleluia of the Mass. The second part of the gradual varies from day to day, just as it does at the Mass; the alleluia is often different from that of the day’s Mass, or made longer by the addition of a second verse. In many Uses, but not that of Sarum, the sequence Victimae Paschali was said as well. There follow the Magnificat with its antiphon, and a prayer, in the customary manner.

At this point, the procession to the baptismal font is formed in the following order: the cross-bearer, two acolytes carrying candles, the thurifer, two deacons who carry the holy oil and the chrism, a server to carry the book, and the celebrant, followed by the leaders of the choir (called “rectors” at Sarum), and the rest of the clergy. A rubric of the Sarum Breviary notes that it was not their custom to carry the Paschal candle at the head of this procession, indicating that this was certainly done elsewhere.

Before the procession starts, the rectors intone an antiphon, “Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia,” which is completed by the choir. They then begin the fourth psalm of Sunday Vespers, 112; one “Alleluia” is sung after each verse, and the procession begins moving after the first verse is completed. It makes it way to the baptismal font, where the first verse of the psalm and then the antiphon are repeated, and the font is incensed, after which the celebrant sings a versicle, the choir sings the response, and the celebrant sings a prayer. Many Uses added the Vidi aquam to this part of the ceremony.

The Baptistery of St John in the Lateran in Rome, photographed by William Henry Goodyear (1846-1923); from the Brooklyn Museum archives via Wikimedia Commons. (The current baptismal font of Salisbury Cathedral is comically hideous.)

The procession then goes to the chapel of the Cross, while singing the fifth psalm of Sunday Vespers, 113, repeating an antiphon of just one “Alleluia” after each verse. (In many places, Psalm 113 was sung while processing to the font together with Psalm 112, and a responsory was sung here instead.) The Cross is likewise incensed, followed by another versicle, response and prayer.

The procession then returned to the main choir, while singing a Marian antiphon, also followed by another versicle and prayer; at Sarum, this antiphon varied each day of the octave, while in other Uses, such as that of the Dominicans, the Regina caeli was sung every day. At the end, Benedicamus Domino and Deo gratias are sung with two Alleluias as in the Roman Rite.

It should be obvious that this ritual had its origins in the very ancient days of the Church, when the newly baptized would return each day of the Easter octave to the font where they had been reborn in Christ on the eve of Holy Saturday. The eminently baptismal character of the ceremony also explains why it is not in the Roman Breviary, a form of the Office originally used in the chapel of the Papal court, which was not a parish, and hence had neither catechumens nor a font. In fact, the Ordinal of Pope Innocent III, which lays out this form of the Office in the early 13th century, contains a rubric noting that Vespers of Easter was done in a completely different manner in the Lateran Basilica from that done in the Papal chapel. This is also why we find that in the Dominican Use, the entire portion which was sung while processing to the font (Psalms 112 and 113) is simply dropped, since the earliest Dominican churches would not have been parishes, and hence not had baptismal fonts.

The most common variant of this rite, as noted above, was the singing of a responsory while processing to chapel of the Cross, instead of Psalm 113 as at Sarum. This beautiful text is attributed to King Robert II of France (972-1031), also known as Robert the Pious.

R. Christus resurgens a mortuis jam non moritur, mors illi ultra non dominabitur: * Quod enim vivit, vivit Deo, alleluia, alleluia. V. Dicant nunc Judaei, quomodo milites custodientes sepulchrum perdiderunt Regem ad lapidis positionem: quare non servabant petram justitiae? Aut sepultum reddant, aut resurgentem adorent nobiscum, dicentes: Quod enim vivit.

R. Christ rising again from the dead, dieth now no longer, death shall no longer have dominion over Him: * For in that He liveth, He liveth unto God, alleluia, alleluia. V. Let the Jews now say how the soldiers that guarded the tomb lost the King where the stone was laid: why did they not keep the stone of justice? Let them either give back Him that was buried, or with us adore Him as he riseth, saying: For in that He liveth…

To catalog of all the variants of this ceremony found in medieval liturgical Uses would be a truly Herculean task, since there do not seem to be two cathedrals in all of Europe that did it in quite the same way. One more text, this remarkable antiphon from the Use of Paris, calls for particular notice; the very simple rubrics of the Parisian Breviary of 1492 simply say that it was sung “ad crucem”, i.e., the cross on top of the rood screen.

Aña Ego sum Alpha et Ω, (omega) primus et novissimus, initium et finis, qui ante mundi principium et in saeculum saeculi vivo in aeternum. Manus meae, quae vos fecerunt, clavis confixae sunt; propter vos flagellis caesus sum, spinis coronatus sum; aquam petii pendens, et acetum porrexerunt; in escam meam fel dederunt et in latus lanceam; mortuus et sepultus, resurrexi, vobiscum sum. Videte, quia ego ipse sum et non est Deus praeter me, alleluia.

Aña I am the Alpha and Omega, the first and last, the beginning and the end, who before the beginning of the world, and unto all ages live forever. My hands, which made ye, were fixed with nails; for ye I was scourged, I was crowned with thorns; as I hung, I asked for water, and they offered vinegar. They gave Me gal for food, and a spear in My side. Being dead and buried, I rose, I am with ye. See that it is I, and there is no God beside me, alleluia.

The reliquary of the Crown of Thorns, by Viollet-Le-Duc in 1862 and preserved at Notre-Dame de Paris. (Image from Wikimedia Commons by PHGCOM.)

Summer Graduate-Level Sacred Music Study - Tuition-free

The May 1st application deadline is approaching for summer graduate courses in sacred music at the Catholic Institute of Sacred Music.

• Graduate-level study structured for busy schedules
• In-person, intensive course formats
• Affordable room & board
• Free tuition

Learn more and apply here.

Courses:

• Choral Institute
• Composition Seminar
• Organ Improvisation
• Introduction to Gregorian Chant
• Vocal Pedagogy – NEW
• Organ Literature – NEW
• Teaching Gregorian Chant to Children - FULL
• Advanced Seminar in Chant: Old Roman Chant - NEW
• Advanced Seminar in Gregorian Chant: Gregorian Modes and Hexachordal Solfège - NEW

Faculty:

• Prof. Christopher Berry
• Dr. Jennifer Donelson-Nowicka
• Dr. Joseph Dyer
• Dr. Frank La Rocca
• Fr. Joshua Neu
• Dr. Charles Weaver
• Dr. Christophe Tietze
• Prof. Sandra Bengochea

Courses are held on the beautiful campus of St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California from July 7 to 25, immediately following the Fons et Culmen Sacred Liturgy Summit.

Application deadline: Thursday, May 1st.

Continue Reading this Article. . .

The Last Service of Easter

Following up on Monday’s post about the service known as the Paschal Hour in Byzantine Rite, here is the text of another special rite, which is done after Vespers on Easter day itself. It is brief enough to show the whole of it with just one photograph from the Pentecostarion, the service book which contains all the proper texts of the Easter season. Christ is risen!

Should Communion Sometimes Be Eliminated to Avoid Sacrilege?

In a post at his Substack entitled “Nobody is talking about this in the Catholic world,” Patrick Giroux has the courage and good sense to raise the issue of the indiscriminate reception of the Lord at weddings and funerals where many attendees are not Catholics, or, if Catholics, not practicing, not in accord with Church teaching, or not in a state of grace (or all of the above)—all of whom go up and receive anyway, with priests, deacons, and lay “ministers” handing out the Body of Christ as if it meant, and was, nothing more than a potato chip (we can’t even say it’s a sign, because if it were a sign, it would be a sign of membership in the Church, and, by definition, the foregoing categories are not actually members). Giroux suggests a fairly radical solution: do not distribute Communion at weddings and funerals.

It is hard not to sympathize with this suggestion. It is wrong for anyone who is not properly disposed for receiving the Lord to receive Him: objectively sinful and displeasing to God, wreaking havoc on souls and on the Church. Giroux implies that the current sick and dying condition of the Church is in part caused by an epidemic of sinful communions. This, after all, is the view of the Apostle: “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the body of the Lord. Therefore are there many infirm and weak among you, and many sleep” (1 Cor 11:29).

I posted this article on social media with the following caveat:

The “solution” proposed here—to discontinue Communion at weddings and funerals—is too radical. However, his “second best” idea is perfectly right: a clear announcement should be made from the pulpit about who should and who should not receive. This is not only owed in justice to Our Lord but is also an act of charity to the attendees. I have found that something like this is done universally at TLM locations.

A long-time friend of mine, seeing the article I shared, was obviously not in sympathy with the author’s suggestion, writing to me as follows.

Dear Peter,
       I hope you’re doing well. I want to ask you to consider writing an article about the problem with suggesting that the answer to sacrilegious communions is to straight across reduce the number of communions. The “solution” in Giroux article you shared just after Christmas was profoundly disturbing, and the comments perhaps more so. I saw you agreed it was too radical, and had hoped you might post more fully about this. The idea that we should categorically reduce Communions by forbidding them at, e.g., weddings and funerals so as to counteract the grave problem of sacrilegious Communions misses the whole problem. Sacrilegious communions are a spiritual problem. The most effective weapon against them is good Communions. We go from the altar “like lions breathing forth fire.” Christ was willing to risk having a whole twelfth of His first congregation make a sacrilegious Communion in order to give the gift of that first Communion of the Apostles to them, and to the Church forever.
       There is a whiff of sulfur (unintentional, I’m sure, but nonetheless there) in the suggestion that we should be so focused on sacrilegious Communions that we be willing to give up good Communions. I certainly understand people being concerned and grieved over bad Communions. Still, aside from other considerations, it’s myopic to think that all weddings or funerals lack the needed announcements about fitting reception. But besides acknowledging that fact, it’s more important for people to realize that to categorically reduce the Mystical Body of Christ’s access to the Eucharistic Body of Christ directly vitiates our power to fight the darkness. It’s very Jansenistic; and Jansenism is finally not only a prideful reliance on one’s own powers, but a total lack of appreciation of God’s power. It’s Jansenistic to think that God is so weak in the Eucharist that we need habitually to take Communion away from good communicants in a desperate attempt to stop bad communicants.
       When Our Lord instituted the Eucharist, He foresaw untold numbers of sacrilegious Communions. Yet He still said, “Take and eat” to us. For sure, He didn’t say, “Take and eat, and don’t bother telling anyone that they should be believing Catholics in a state of grace.” But He also didn’t say, “Don’t take and eat, because someone might choose wrongly and receive me sacrilegiously.” If that was His greatest concern, He wouldn’t have bothered instituting the Sacrament. Setting up excessive barriers between the faithful and Christ in the Eucharist is a Jansenistic attempt at hyper-control. In both cases, the effect is alienation from the desperately needed good God is offering us. I’d note, too, that removing Communion from weddings would habitually deprive all married couples of the huge graces which come from the good Communions made at their wedding. I remember at our wedding, as I marveled a bit over how long Communion went on, thinking that one of the great things about having many good guests at one’s wedding was having so many good Communions made at this pivotal time.

My response:

Dear Friend,

I haven’t written further about this but I have written in defense of frequent communion in a number of articles, against neo-Jansenists. I’m not at all friendly to Jansenism, as my articles on dancing indicated.

Generally, I would agree with you about not discouraging reception of communion for those who are well-disposed. Giroux did not say Catholics should be habitually denied opportunity for Communion, and I am not sure many people hold that view. Rather, he said on occasions when there will be a lot of non-Catholics or non-practicing Catholics, and this can be known relatively easily ahead of time.

What I think you are not taking into account is that most weddings and funerals are, sadly, not like the ones where Thomas Aquinas College or Christendom College or Wyoming Catholic College alumni get married and their devout friends and families come, most of them in a state of grace (indeed, probably having been to Confession in the recent past). Rather, according to priests I know, these are the occasions when the highest number of fallen-away Catholics, Catholics living in states of sin, and clueless unbelievers attend. Moreover, it is in fact not at all common for clear announcements to be made; once again, this tends to be done at more conservative or traditional events, where, ironically, the announcement is less needed. Giroux’s proposal was not to abolish communion tout court so that no sacrilegious communions are ever made, but rather, to consider doing so for weddings and funerals of that sort.

The weakness in his article is that he does not make any distinction between different kinds of congregations and the discernment a priest would have to make. He also errs in depriving (at least by implication) the wedding couple itself of Communion. Instead, they should be shriven shortly before the wedding, and then receive the Holy Eucharist. The Eucharist, after all, is, like Christian marriage itself, sign of the nuptial union between Christ and His Church, and effects that union in us, so it would be perfectly absurd not to have the couple receive.

More generally, I would say that your comments may reveal an insufficient appreciation of the gravity of sacrilegious communions, as we find this highlighted in saints from St. John Chrysostom to St. John Vianney. Our Lord does tolerate this evil, as He does many another evil, from the Holocaust to the dire plague of abortion; but as John Paul II and Benedict XVI acknowledged, the indiscriminate reception of the Lord without due preparation and even in a state of sin—which is, as you know, an additional sin for the one receiving, at least objectively speaking, something displeasing to God and worthy of damnation—is practically an epidemic at this point.

We need, in fact, to reinstall some “barriers,” both physical and moral, to make sure that people do not stupidly eat and drink their own condemnation. We need communion rails to be put up again, and even rood screens; we need to abolish Communion in the hand and standing, replacing it with Communion kneeling and on the tongue, assisted by a server with a paten; we need to abolish “Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion” altogether; and have Confessions going on during Masses whenever possible. (On these matters, see my book Holy Bread of Eternal Life.)

I appreciate your concerns, but I wanted to push back just a bit in defense of Giroux, while also agreeing that orthodoxy and Jansenism have to be separated (they seem to share a razor-sharp border).

Yours in Christ,

Peter

Update on the Palestrina500 Festival in Grand Rapids

On Friday, February 14th, the feast of Saint Valentine, Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Grand Rapids, MI welcomed Gesualdo Six from London to sing a choral meditation and Mass for the parish's yearlong Palestrina500 festival.

The choral meditation consisted of:

• Palestrina: Litaniae de Beata Virgine Maria a6
• Antoine Brumel: Sub tuum praesidium
• Josquin des Prez: O Virgo prudentissima
• Johannes Ockeghem: Intemerata Dei mater
• Antoine de Févin: Nesciens mater
• Jean Mouton: Ave Maria, virgo serena
• Josquin des Prez: Nymphes des bois / Requiem aeternam
• Costanzo Festa: Quis dabit oculis
• Jean L’Héritier: Sub tuum praesidium

The Mass featured the Missa Sine Nomine, as well as Palestrina’s setting of the antiphon Cantabo Domino and the Sicut Cervus.

Sacred Heart’s pastor, Fr. Ron Floyd celebrated the Missa cantata. Here’s a recap video:

And some photos:

On Tuesday, March 25th, the Solemnity of the Annunciation, Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Grand Rapids, MI welcomed The Hope College Chapel Choir, of Holland, MI.

The choral meditation consisted of all music by living composers, with chanted psalms from that evening’s Vespers between each piece by the Men’s Schola of Sacred Heart:

Hear Our Cry, O Lord by Ben Krause
O Radiant Dawn by James MacMillan
Halo My Path by Josh Rodriguez
Set me as a Seal by Margaret Burk
O Magnum Mysterium by Morten Lauridsen
Tota pulchra es by Jonathan Bading

The Mass featured Palestrina’s Missa Brevis as well as his Jesu Rex Admirabilis, and again, the Sicut Cervus.

The series continues this Friday, April 25th, when Sacred Heart will welcome the world famous Tallis Scholars from the UK, who will be singing an hour long choral meditation at 5:00pm (*note time change) and the Missa Papae Marcelli at 7pm - a work that will acquire all the more poignancy from the moment in the Church’s life in which it will be sung.

For the full schedule of Palestrina500 events, go to palestrina500.org.

Catholic Education Foundation Seminar 2025: The Role of the Priest in Today’s Catholic School

July 16-18, at the Athenaeum of Ohio (the seminary of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati).

Fr Peter Stravinskas of the Catholic Education Foundation is once again offering this excellent three-day seminar, intended primarily for bishops, priests, and seminarians. It is entitled The Role of the Priest in Today’s Catholic School.

For further information: call 732-903-5213 or email fstravinskas@hotmail.com.

The Sermon on the Mount, 1877, by the Danish painter Carl Bloch (1834-90); public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.

For whom?  Clergy who are pastors, parochial vicars, or those directly involved in the elementary or secondary school apostolate (or who wish to be) – as well as seminarians. 

When?  From 4:00 p.m. July 15 to 4:00 p.m., July 17, 2025

Where? Athenaeum of Ohio (seminary of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati; located about twenty-minutes’ drive from the Cincinnati airport.) 

How much? $700 (all-inclusive); $650 for registrations before May 31 

The Team

The Catholic Education Foundation – convinced by history and the present reality – believes that the viability of our Catholic schools is largely dependent on the support and involvement of our priests. Our seminar will include workshops dealing with the following topics:

• Conciliar and Papal Teaching on Catholic Education
• The History of Catholic Education in the United States
• The Priest’s Presence in the School Community (Students, Faculty,
Administration, Parents)
• The Priest as the Public Relations Man of the School
• Financial Concerns
• Models of Governance and Best Practices

The speakers are:

Rev. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Ph.D., S.T.D. (President, CEF)

Michael Acquilano (Chief Operating Officer, Diocese of Charleston)

Rev. Patrick Armano (Chaplain & Teacher, Austin Prep, Archdiocese of Boston)

Rev. John Belmonte, SJ (Superintendent of Schools, Diocese of Venice)

Steven Cheeseman (President, National Catholic Educational Association)

Rev. Mr. Sean Costello (Superintendent of Schools, Diocese of Winona-Rochester)

Rev. Michael Davis (Pastor & Former School Administrator, Archdiocese of Miami)

John DaJak (Executive Director, Secretariat of Catholic Education, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops)

Brian Dorrian (Founding Chairman, Philosophy Department, Charlotte Catholic High School)

Kevin Kijewski, JD (Former Superintendent of Schools, Archdiocese of Detroit)

Rev. James Kuroly, EdD. (President/Rector, Cathedral Prep, Brooklyn)

Rev. Thomas Machalski (Pastor, Diocese of Brooklyn; Former Seminary Rector/President)

Rev. Daniel O’Mullane, EdS (Pastor & President/Rector, Lumen Gentium Academy (Diocese of Paterson)

Brother Owen Sadlier, OSF (Professor of Philosophy, St. Joseph Seminary, Archdiocese of New York)

Rev. Msgr. Joseph Schaedel (Pastor & Former School Administrator, Archdiocese of Indianapolis)

Pope Francis RIP

Deus, qui inter summos sacerdótes fámulum tuum Franciscum ineffábili tua dispositióne connumerári voluisti: praesta, quáesumus; ut, qui Unigéniti Filii tui vices in terris gerébat, sanctórum tuórum Pontíficum consortio perpétuo aggregétur. Per eundem Christum, Dóminum nostrum. Amen.

Courtesy of Shawn Tribe and Liturgical Arts Journal

God, Who in Thy ineffable providence, did will that Thy servant Francis should be numbered among the high priests, grant, we beseech Thee, that he, who on earth held the place of Thine Only-begotten Son, may be joined forevermore to the fellowship of Thy holy pontiffs. Through the same Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

The Byzantine Paschal Hour

In the Roman Rite, the minor Hours of Easter and its octave are celebrated according to a very simple and archaic form, which consists solely of the psalmody, the antiphon Haec dies, and the prayer, with the usual introduction and conclusion. (Haec dies is labeled as an “antiphon” in the Breviary, but it is identical to the first part of the gradual sung at Mass each day of Easter week, and is called a gradual in the liturgical books of some other Uses.) This is said from Prime of Easter Sunday to None of the following Saturday. An analogous form is used at Compline, which consists of just the psalmody, an antiphon of four Allelujas, the Nunc dimittis, the Haec dies and the prayer, again, with the usual introduction and conclusion.

The Byzantine Rite observes a very similar practice; from Prime of Easter Sunday to None of Bright Saturday, the minor Hours, including Compline and the Midnight Office, are all sung according to the same brief and highly simplified form, without varying any part of the text from one Hour to another. This form is meant to be sung by the choir, whereas normally, the minor Hours are done by a single reader, with the priest saying the opening and closing formulas, and the doxologies (e.g. “For thine is the kingdom…” after the Lord’s Prayer.)

After the brief introduction “Blessed is Our God …”, the Paschal troparion is sung three times. “Christ is risen from the dead, having trampled down death by death, and bestowed life upon those in the tombs.” Another hymn is also sung three times. “Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ, let us worship the holy Lord Jesus, the only sinless one. We worship Thy Cross, O Christ, and we sing of and glorify Thy holy Resurrection; for Thou art our God, beside Thee we know none other, we call upon Thy name. Come, all ye faithful, let us worship Christ’s holy Resurrection, for behold, through the Cross joy hath come to all the world. In all things blessing the Lord, we sing of His Resurrection; for, having endured the Cross for our sake, by death He hath destroyed death.”

There follows another hymn called a hypakoë, which is sung once. “Coming with Mary before the dawn, and finding the stone rolled away from the tomb, the women heard from the Angel, “Why do you seek among the dead Him That liveth in everlasting light, as though He were (merely) a man? See the grave-clothes, run and proclaim to the world that the Lord is risen and hath slain death; for He is the Son of God Who saveth the race of men.”

In the Byzantine Rite, the second Sunday after Easter is dedicated to the Myrrh-bearing Women; the Gospel is St Mark’s account of the burial of Christ, followed by their discovery of the empty tomb (15, 43 – 16, 8.)

Then the kontakion of Easter is sung. “Though Thou didst descend into the grave, o Immortal One, yet Thou didst destroy the power of Hades, and arise as victor, Christ God, calling out to the myrrh-bearing women, ‘Rejoice!’ and giving peace to Thy Apostles, Thou Who grantest resurrection to the fallen.”

This is followed by a series of three troparia, sung with the doxology; the concluding hymn of such a series is always about the Mother of God.

“In the grave bodily, but in Hades with Thy soul as God; in Paradise with the thief, and on the throne with the Father and the Spirit wast Thou, o Christ, who fillest all things, uncircumscribed. – Glory to the Father…
How life-giving, how much more beautiful than Paradise, and truly more resplendent than any royal palace was Thy tomb shown to be, O Christ, the source of our resurrection. – Both now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
O sanctified and divine tabernacle of the Most High, rejoice! For through thee, o Mother of God, joy is given to them that cry out, ‘Blessed art thou among women, o Lady immaculate.’ ”

The Paschal Hour concludes with a slightly shorter form of the regular conclusion, which includes the text of the Paschal troparion. “Lord, have mercy (forty times). Glory to the Father… More honorable than the Cherubim, and incomparably more glorious than the Seraphim, who without corruption gavest birth to God the Word, the very Mother of God; we magnify Thee. Through the prayers of our holy fathers, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us. Amen. Christ is risen from the dead, having trampled down death by death, and bestowed life upon those in the tombs (three times). Glory to the Father… Lord, have mercy (three times). O Lord, give the blessing. Thou that didst rise from the dead, O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, for the sake of the prayers of Thy most pure Mother, of our holy and God-bearing fathers, and all the saints, have mercy on us and save us, for Thou art good and the Lover of mankind. Amen.”

In the following video, recorded yesterday at the monastery of St Michael in Kyiv, Ukraine, the Paschal Hours begins at 3:50, followed by the Divine Liturgy. (This complex is traditionally known as the Golden-Domed Monastery; see picture below. There doesn’t appear to be a Greek version available on YouTube.)

Image from Wikimedia Commons by Rbrechko, CC BY-SA 4.0

Easter Sunday 2025

An icon of the Harrowing of Hell made in Constantinople in the late 14th century.

Let all partake of the feast of faith. Let all receive the riches of goodness. Let no one lament their poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed. Let no one mourn their transgressions, for pardon has dawned from the grave. Let no one fear death, for the Saviour’s death has set us free. He that was taken by death has annihilated it! He descended into Hades and took Hades captive! He embittered it when it tasted His flesh! And anticipating this, Isaiah exclaimed: “Hades was embittered when it encountered Thee in the lower regions.” It was embittered, for it was abolished! It was embittered, for it was mocked! It was embittered, for it was purged! It was embittered, for it was despoiled! It was embittered, for it was bound in chains! It took a body and came upon God! It took earth and encountered Ηeaven! It took what it saw, but crumbled before what it had not seen! O death, where is thy sting? O Hades, where is thy victory? Christ is risen, and you are overthrown! Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen! Christ is risen, and the Angels rejoice! Christ is risen, and life reigns! Christ is risen, and not one dead man remains in a tomb! For Christ, being raised from the dead, has become the first-fruits of them that have slept. To Him be glory and might unto the ages of ages. Amen. (From a Paschal Homily of St John Chrysostom, read at Matins of Easter in the Byzantine Rite.)

TO all our readers, to your families and friends, we wish you an Easter filled with every joy and blessing in the Risen Lord - He is truly risen!

The Twentieth Anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s Election

On this Holy Saturday, we also mark the 20th anniversary of the election of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. Let us remember with gratitude the gift of his papacy, his graciousness and good humor, his many wise and well-considered writings, his paternal love especially for priests and religious, but of course above all, his restoration to the Church of the incomparable treasure of the traditional Roman Rite, an act which will continue to bear great spiritual fruit and lead the way for much-needed reform. “What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too, and it cannot be all of a sudden entirely forbidden or even considered harmful.”

Joseph Ratzinger serving an open-air solemn Mass in the town of Buchfelln in 1947, when he was 20. Tradition will always be for the young!

Holy Saturday 2025

The Harrowing of Hell, by Duccio di Buoninsenga, 1308-11

R. Recessit pastor noster, fons aquae vivae, ad cujus transitum sol obscuratus est; * nam et ille captus est, qui captivum tenebat primum hominem: hodie portas mortis et seras pariter Salvator noster disrupit. V. Destruxit quidem claustra inferni, et subvertit potentias diaboli. Nam et ille.

R. Our Shepherd hath departed, the font of living water, at Whose passing the sun was darkened; * for he that held the first Man captive, was himself taken: today our Savior hath broken asunder the doors and bars of death. V. Indeed, he destroyed the fortress of hell, and overthrew the powers of the devil. For he that held. (Tenebrae of Holy Saturday, fourth responsory)