Liturgy > Liturgical year > Pascha

Vespers on the Feast of Pascha

Introduction - Paschal Matins - Divine Liturgy - Paschal Hours - Paschal Vespers

Vespers on the Sunday of Pascha marks the end of Easter Sunday, and the transition to Bright Week. The service is often celebrated in the early or mid-afternoon. Especially in churches which celebrated the Matins and Divine Liturgy of Pascha during the preceding nighttime hours, the celebration of Vespers on Pascha is a good way to meet once again in Church to continue the celebration of the Resurrection.

The Metropolitan Cantor Institute has prepared a booklet with the complete text and music for the service of Vespers on the day of Pascha, and the six days of Bright Week.

The beginning of the service

The service of Paschal vespers begins with the usual opening blessing of Vespers:

Blessed is our God always, now and ever and forever.

The Paschal troparion, "Christ is risen from the dead", is sung once by the priest and twice by the faithful; then the priest sings the psalm verses which opened Paschal Matins, and as at that service, the faithful respond with the troparion of Pascha as a refrain:

V. Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered, and let those who hate him flee from before his face! (Ps. 67:2)

Christ is risen from the dead...

V. As smoke vanishes, so let them vanish, as wax melts before a fire. (Ps. 67:3)

Christ is risen from the dead...

V. So let the wicked perish at the presence of God, but let the righteous ones rejoice. (Ps. 67:4)

Christ is risen from the dead...

V. This is the day the Lord had made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Ps. 117:24)

Christ is risen from the dead...

V. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and forever. Amen.

Christ is risen from the dead...

These verses and refrain will be sung at the beginning of every celebration of Vespers and Matins through the end of Bright Week. The Paschal verses are followed by the Litany of Peace.

The Lamp-lighting Psalms

On the evening of Holy Saturday, we began the cycle of the Eight Tones anew by singing the Resurrectional hymns in Tone 1. Now, normally, we would expect to sing in tone 1 for an entire week, before progressing to Tone 2. But during Bright Week (which begins with this service), we move to a new tone each day, completing the entire cycle of eight tones in the course of a week. (Tone 7, considered the most somber, is omitted.) In this way, we symbolize the "gathering up" of our whole cycle of hymns into the first seven days of Pascha. On each day, the hymns that are sung are the hymns of Sunday - the day of Resurrection - in the tone "of the day."

So, since Vespers on Saturday night, and Matins for Sunday were in Tone 1, the services of Monday - beginning with Vespers on Sunday afternoon or eveniing - are in Tone 2. We sing the opening verses of the Lamp-lighting Psalms in Tone 2, and then seven Sunday stichera of the Resurrection in Tone 2. The final hymn in this section is the dogmatikon in Tone 2, which explains the dogma of the Incarnation.

At the end of the stichera, the clergy make a festive entrance into the sanctuary, as the faithful sing the evening hymn, " O Joyful Light."

Prokeimenon and Gospel

On the evening of Pascha, a great prokeimenon (that is, a prokeimenon with several verses) is sung. The special prokeimena are associated with major feasts. For Sunday feasts, they follow the feast rather than precede it, so as not to conflict with the great prokeimenon of Saturday evening.

The great prokeimenon of Vespers on the evening of Pascha is well known in the Byzantine Rite:

What God is as great as our God? You are the God who works wonders!

V. You showed your power among the peoples. Your strong arm redeemed your people.
V. I said: Now I begin, and this is the will of the Most High
V. I remember the deeds of the Lord. I remember your wonders of old.

This prokeimenon is followed by a reading of the Gospel account of our Lord's appearance to his disciples "on the evening of the first day of the week" (John 19:20-25).

After the Gospel, the Litany of Fervent Supplication, the Hymn of Glorification ("Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this evening without sin"), and the Litany of Supplication ("Let us complete our evening prayer to the Lord") are intoned.

The Aposticha

Like the hymns at the Lamp-lighting Psalms, the aposticha hymns of Vespers begin with the Resurrectional aposticha in Tone 2. But after a single hymn is sung, we begin singing the Paschal stichera, as at the Praises of Paschal Matins, while the faithful come forward to kiss the cross.

The dismissal of the service takes place immediately after the end of the aposticha (omitting the Prayer of the Prophet Simeon, "Now you may dismiss your servant, O Lord", and the trisagion prayers and troparia). The dismissal itself is the same short Paschal conclusion as at the end of Paschal Matins.

Recommended Reading