Paschal Hours

ThePaschal Hoursare the form in which theLittle Hoursare chanted onPascha(Easter) and throughoutBright Weekin theEastern OrthodoxandByzantine Catholicchurches.

Specifically, the Paschal Hours replace:

The Paschal Hours may also be chanted in place of the usualThanksgiving after Communion.^[1]In addition, it is a pious tradition to substitute the Paschal Hours for Morning Prayers and Evening Prayers during all of Bright week.

In this way, the faithful take a little rest from the long prayer services, but do not neglect to give joyous thanks to God, so as not to fall into despondency and gluttony, as they partake of festive foods.

Outline

The Paschal Hours differ from the normalDaily Officein several significant aspects: the entire service ischanted(sung) rather than beingread;the services are much shorter than usual; and there are noPsalmsat all.

The hymnography and prayers center on Christ's victory over sin and death and Christians' hope for salvation.

Openingblessing
Troparionof Pascha (thrice)
Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ, let us worship the holy Lord Jesus, the only sinless One. We venerate your Cross, O Christ, and we praise and glorify your holy Resurrection; for you are our God and we know no other than you and we call upon your Name. Come all you faithful, let us venerate Christ's holy Resurrection, for behold through the Cross joy has come into all the world. Let us ever bless the Lord, praising his Resurrection, for enduring the Cross for us, he has destroyed death by death. (thrice)
Hypakoeof Pascha: Before the dawn theMaryand thewomencame and found the stone roled away from the tomb. They heard the angel's voice, "Why do you seek among the dead as a man, the One who is everlasting Light? Behold, the clothes in the grave. Go and proclaim to the world: The Lord is risen, he has slain death as he is the Son of God, saving the human race.
Kontakionof Pascha: You descended into the tomb, O Immortal, you destroyed the power of death. You arose intriumph,O Christ God, proclaiming, "Rejoice" to the myrrh-bearing women, granting peace to your apostles and giving resurrection to the fallen.
Troparia:
- In thetombwith the body and inHadeswith the soul, inParadisewith thethiefand on the throne with theFatherand theSpirit,were You, O boundlessChristfilling all things.
- Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit
- Bearing life and more fruitful than Paradise, brighter than any royal chamber, Your tomb, O Christ, is the fountain ofour resurrection.
- Both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
- Rejoice, O holy and divine abode of the Most High, for through you, OTheotokos,joy is given to those who cry: Blessed are you among women, O all-undefiled Lady.
Lord, have mercy (40 times)
Blessing by priest
Troparion of Pascha (thrice)
Lord, have mercy (thrice)
Dismissal

Each of the Paschal Hours is the same (except that in some traditions, a Prayer ofSt. Basilis added before thedismissalof Paschal Compline).^[2]

References

^translated from the Greek by the Holy Transfiguration Monastery. (1997),The Great Horologion or Book of Hours,Boston MA: Holy Transfiguration Monastery, p. 618,ISBN 0-943405-08-4
^Nassar, Seraphim (1938),Divine Prayers and Services of the Catholic Orthodox Church of Christ(3rd ed.), Englewood NJ:Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America(published 1979), pp. 935–6

External links

Paschal Hours(full text of the service)

[1] translated from the Greek by the Holy Transfiguration Monastery. (1997),The Great Horologion or Book of Hours,Boston MA: Holy Transfiguration Monastery, p. 618,ISBN 0-943405-08-4

[2] Nassar, Seraphim (1938),Divine Prayers and Services of the Catholic Orthodox Church of Christ(3rd ed.), Englewood NJ:Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America(published 1979), pp. 935–6

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