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Chicago
The second Holy Week of the Orthodox Church in which I participated, celebrated again at the parish Christ the Savior, was just as memorable as the first. Photographing such an event, however, is difficult. Not only does one not wish to disturb the pious atmosphere of the church, but also the difficult lighting conditions—the church is strikingly placed in darkness at the Saturday night service—make Holy Week impossible to substantially recount in photographs.
On Good Friday the epitaphion, a cloth depicting the body of Christ, is placed in the Nave. The epitaphion used by this parish was made in Greece in the mid-19th century.
The epitaphion is carried in a procession outside around the block.
Last year such processions seemed to generate much community interest with many onlooking bystanders and stopped cars, but it seems this year residents of this Chicago neighbourhood took little notice.
Shortly after
midnight on Sunday morning, another procession celebrates the
Feast of the Resurrection. At its end, the priest stands
before the doors of the church and shouts Christ is
risen!
, to which the parishioners respond Indeed he is
risen!
This proclamation and response is repeated innumerable times during the service and the following days. The diversity of the Orthodox Church in America means that besides English, one hears these words of celebration in many languages, from those of the Orthodox ‘old country’ to languages of recently evangelized countries in Africa.
At Pascha, the icon of the Resurrection is placed in the nave, where it will stand until Pentecost.
Although much spectacle has happened before, the heart of the Pascha service, like that of any divine liturgy, is the serving of the Holy Eucharist.
