Melkite Greek Catholic Church Information Center Feast of Feasts Holy and Glorious Pascha Celebration

The Sundays of the Feast of Feasts Holy and Glorious Pascha are the time of celebration for Holy and Glorious Pascha. The Feast of Feasts Holy and Glorious Pascha is followed by six Sundays: Thomas or Bright Sunday or New Sunday, Myrhh-Bearing Women, Paralytic, Samaritan Woman, Man Born Blind, and Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council. In addition, some theologians consider Pentecost to be the final Sunday of Pascha.

Sundays of Pascha or Pascha Cycle
Sunday of Pascha	Day after Sunday of Pascha	Sunday after Pascha	Day of Pascha	Name	Apostolos	Gospel	Tone	Saint
1		0	1	Pascha	Acts 1:1-9	Jn. 1:1-17	0
Bright Monday Vespers			1				0
Bright Monday	Monday after Pascha		2	New Monday	Acts 1:12-17, 21-28	Jn. 1:18-28	0
Bright Week	Mon. - Sat. after Pascha		2-7	New Week	many	many	0
2		1	8	Thomas Sunday Bright Sunday New Sunday	Acts 5:12-20	Jn. 20:19-31	1	Holy Glorious Apostle Thomas
3		2	15	Myrhh- Bearing Women	Acts 6:1-7	Mk. 15:43-16:8	2	Myrrh- bearing Woman Mary Magdalen, Equal of Apostles
4		3	22	Paralytic	Acts 9:32-42	Jn. 5:1-15	3
Mid Pentecost	Wed. after 4 Sunday		25	Middle feast	Acts 14:6-18	Jn. 7:14-30	3
5		4	29	Samaritan Woman	Acts 11:19-30	Jn. 4:5-42	4
6		5	36	Man Born Blind	Acts 16:16-34	Jn. 9:1-38	5
Great Feast Ascension into Heaven Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ	Thurs. after 6 Sunday		40th day Pascha 10 days before Pente- cost		Acts 1:1-12	Lk. 24:36-53	6	Theotokos Apostles
7		6	43	Fathers First Ecumen- ical Council	Acts 20:16-18 27-36	Jn. 17:1-13	7
2 Sat. Dead	Sat. after 7 Sunday		49th day Pascha 1 day before Pente- cost
8		7	50	Pentecost	Acts 2:1-11	Jn. 7:37-52, 8:12	8	Theotokos Apostles

Liturgical Cycle

From Holy and Glorious Pascha to Pentecost, Sunday is the first day of the Liturical week. In the remainder of the year, Sunday is the last day of the Liturical week.

Tone

Each Sunday and its weekdays have a different tone. The tones are in numberical success beginning with tone 1 on the Second Sunday of Holy and Glorious Pascha or the First Sunday after Holy and Glorious Pascha. This Sunday is also called Thomas Sunday or New Sunday or Bright Sunday.

Pascha Season

The Paschal season, during which we do not fast because we are celebrating the Resurrection of the Lord, ended on the Great Feast of the Ascension into Heaven of Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ, the 40th day of Pascha. The Forty Days of celebration balance the Forty Days of fasting in Great Lent.

Pascal Greeting, Pascal Troparion, Feasting, the Doors and Curtains of the Ikonostasis are Open, Paschal Candle from the Feast of Feasts Holy and Glorious Pascha until the beginning of the Vespers of the Great Feast of the Ascension into Heaven of Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ.

For the Forty Days from the Feast of Feasts Holy and Glorious Pascha (Feasts of Feasts) to the Great Feast of the Ascension, we celebrate the Holy and Glorious Resurrection of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ from the dead. By His death He has trampled upon death and given life to the world. By breaking down the gates of Hades, He has opened Heaven to all.

We greet each other by saying "Christ is risen! He is truly risen!" or "Al Masiah Qaam! Haqqan Qaam! / Al Massihu Qam! Haqqan Qam!" or "Christos Anesti! Alithos Anesti!".

Also, we say "Glory to His Resurrection on the Third Day! We glorify His Resurrection on the Third Day!".

Finally, we sing the Troparion of Pascha repeatedly in the Divine Liturgy ("Christ is risen from the dead and by His death He has trampled upon death, and has given life to those who are in the tombs!"),

We feast for Forty Days! We do not fast, not even on Fridays. Fasting is forbidden.

The doors and curtains of the ikonostasis remain open. This action is to symbolize how Christ's Resurrection has opened Heaven.

The Paschal Candle, the first one lit by the New Light of Pascha, burns brightly on the Holy Table.

Standing from the Feast of Feasts Holy and Glorious Pascha until the Great Feast of Pentecost

We stand! We do not kneel. Kneeling is forbidden until the beginning of the Vespers of the Great Feast of Pentecost.

These prayers ask the Lord Jesus Christ to send the Holy Spirit also upon us, to empower us to do His will in all aspects of our lives. They are called the "Kneeling Prayers" because they mark the first time we kneel after the 50-day celebration of the Resurrection.

Pascha Cycle

The Sundays of Holy and Glorious Pascha are between Holy and Glorious Pascha and Pentecost.

How to determine when the Sundays of Holy and Glorious Pascha or Sundays after Holy and Glorious Pascha occur

Date of Pascha

Cycle of Triodion, Lent, Clean Monday, Sundays of Lent, Lazarus Saturday, Palm Sunday, Great and Holy Week, Pascha, Bright Week, Ascension Thursday, and Pentecost

Pascha Cycle
Preparation - Triodion
Triodion
Prophonisimon
Great Lent
Transition Period
Transition Period - Lazarus Saturday
Transition Period - Holy and Glorious Palm Sunday--Shaneeneh, with procession
Great and Holy Week
Great and Holy Monday
Great and Holy Tuesday
Great and Holy Wednesday
Great and Holy Thursday
Great and Holy Friday
Great and Holy Saturday
Celebration - Pentecostarion Holy and Glorious Pascha
Celebration
Bright Week
Sundays
Ascension
Pentecost

Melkite Greek Catholic Church Information Center
Martha Liles
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Melkite Greek Catholic Church Information Center is dedicated to my cousins: Bucky (Richard C. Liles), Shirley (Shirley Jean Liles Buck), and Donna (Donna Bertha Liles Campbell). Bucky fell asleep in the Lord on Dec. 12, 2000, Shirley fell asleep in the Lord on Nov. 8, 2001, and Donna fell asleep in the Lord on March 9, 2020.
O God of all spirits and of all flesh, who have destroyed death, overcome the devil, and given life to the world: grant, O Lord, to the souls of your servants Bucky and Shirley, who has departed from this life, that it may rest in a place of light, in a place of happiness, in a place of peace, where there is no pain, no grief, no sighing. And since You are a gracious God and the Lover of Mankind, forgive him/her every sin he/she has committed by thought, or word, or deed, for there is not a man who lives and does not sin : You alone are without sin, your righteousness is everlasting, and your word is true. You are the Resurrection and the Life, and the repose of your departed servants Bucky and Shirley. O Christ our God, and we send up glory to You, together with your eternal Father and your all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit, now and always and for ages upon ages. Amen.

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