Fr. Thomas Hopko

By Fr. Thomas Hopko
from "The Orthodox Faith, Volume I, Doctrine"

And He rose again from the dead on the third day, according to the Scriptures.

Christ is risen from the dead! This is the main proclamation of the Christian faith. It forms the heart of the Church's preaching, worship and spiritual life. "... if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain" (1 Cor 15:14).

By Fr. Thomas Hopko,
from "The Orthodox Faith, Volume II, Worship"

The first service belonging to Holy Saturday -- called in the Church the Blessed Sabbath -- is the Vespers of Good Friday. It is usually celebrated in the mid-afternoon to commemorate the burial of Jesus.

Before the service begins, a "tomb" is erected in the middle of the church building and is decorated with flowers. Also a special icon which is painted on cloth (in Greek, epitaphios; in Slavonic, plaschanitsa) depicting the dead Saviour is placed on the altar table. In English this icon is often called the winding-sheet.

By Fr. Thomas Hopko,
from "The Orthodox Faith, Volume II, Worship"

A little before midnight on the Blessed Sabbath the Nocturne service is chanted. The celebrant goes to the tomb and removes the winding-sheet. He carries it through the royal doors and places it on the altar table where it remains for forty days until the day of Ascension.

At midnight the Easter procession begins. The people leave the church building singing: The angels in heaven, 0 Christ our Savior, sing of Thy resurrection. Make us on earth also worthy to hymn Thee with a pure heart.

By Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko

In Great Lent of 1966 I turned 27 years old.  I had been serving as pastor of St. John's Church in Warren, Ohio for a little more than two and a half years.  During that time a high-strung young mother with plenty of problems came down with colon cancer.  She underwent surgery.  For several months we believed her disease had been stopped.  But by Lent of that year it was again virulently progressing.  Katherine, whom everyone called Kay, was 38 years old.