You might be wondering why 2 days are combined. Well, since the traditional Orthodox way of telling time is from sunset to sunset, this means that the Saturday Matin service was held through both days; we began on Saturday evening and continued on into Sunday morning. In fact, we just finished the service and broke the fast and then I came over and decided to write the diary for this event.
Some of you reading this will already know about “Zoom” which I have spoken of previously. We had the computers set up so that the entire Paschal Matin service could be shared with many of our parishioners who have computers and the skills needed for this kind of connections. The only problem was from our side because we could be heard but we could not communicate with anyone, due to no sound on our computer. No matter, it seems that the effort was a success and resulted in a more full Pascha for those with a Zoom connection.
It was interesting to set up for the service. Archbishop Lazar did the electronics and technical stuff and I did what you might call the artistic stuff. This means that I had to scramble to find flowers for decorating the church to at least give a semblance of a Paschal celebration. What made it difficult is that the many beautiful silk flowers we had used in the past, seem to have disappeared. The end result is that I found a few white silk flowers and mixed these with real flowers on the main icons of the iconostas. Then we have two beautiful large floral bouquets that one of the parishioners brought and these I managed to blend with two silk orchid plants and some other kind of white flower that was short and filled in the bare spots perfectly. It wasn’t a lot but enough to give a feeling of celebration and a day that is out of the ordinary. On that note, I’ll sign off by sending the traditional greeting: Christ is Risen! Truly He is Risen!
Christ is Risen ! To Him be Glory and Power forever and ever. Amen !
From the bottom of our hearts many thanks to both of you, Vladika Lazar and Father Moses, for the Holy Pascha Service.
It was an uplifting service that gave us a greater sense of unity in faith, hope and love.
We, “zoomers”, considered this service a blessing and a very Special Gift from you to us, for which we must thank you again and again, especially in such a troubled world.
And for everybody belonging to our church family :
Christ is Risen ! Kriste aghsdga ! Christos Anesti ! Hristos a Inviat ! Khristos voskres ! Hristos Vaskrese ! Christos Voskrese ! Mesih yükseldi !
May God keep everybody safe and healthy !
Naiana and Ovi