The Paschal Canon

The Resurrection of Christ.

Eirmos: It is the Day of Resurrection! Let us be radiant, O people! Pascha! The Lord's Pascha! For Christ our God has brought us from death to life, and from earth unto heaven, as we sing triumphant hymns!

Refrain: Christ is risen from the dead. (before each troparion).

Let us purify our senses and we shall behold Christ, radiant with inaccessible light of the Resurrection, and shall hear Him saying clearly, "Rejoice!" As we sing the triumphant hymns!

Let heavens rejoice in a worthy manner, the earth be glad, and the whole world, visible and the invisible, keep the Feast. For Christ our eternal joy has risen!

katavasia: It is the Day of Resurrection!…

Ode 3

Eirmos: Come, let us drink a new beverage, not miraculously drawn from a barren rock, but the fountain of Incorruption springing from the tomb of Christ in Whom we are established.

Refrain: Christ is risen from the dead.

Now all things are filled with light: heaven and earth, and the nethermost regions. So let all creation celebrate the Resurrection of Christ, whereby it is established.

Yesterday, O Christ, I was buried with Thee, and today I arise with thy arising. Yesterday I was crucified with Thee. Glorify me, O Savior, with Thee in Thy Kingdom.

katavasia: Come, let us drink…

Hypakoe: When at dawn, the women with Mary came and found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher, they heard from the angel: Why seek among the dead (as if He were a mortal man) Him Who lives in everlasting light? Behold the grave-clothes. Run and tell the world that the Lord is risen, and has slain death. For He is the Son of God Who saves mankind.

Ode 4

Eirmos: May the divinely speaking Abbacum now stand watch with us, and show forth a shining Angel saying resoundingly: Today salvation has come to the world; for Christ is risen as Almighty.

Refrain: Christ is risen from the dead.

Christ revealed Himself as of the male sex when He opened the Virgin's womb, and as a mortal He is called the Lamb. Thus without blemish also, is our Pascha, for He tasted no corruption, and, since He is truly God, He was proclaimed perfect.

Christ, our blessed Crown, like a yearling Lamb, of His own good will sacrificed Himself for all, a Pascha of purification, and as the glorious Sun of Righteousness, He has shone upon us again from the grave.

David, the forefather of our divine Lord, leapt and danced before the symbolical Ark of the Covenant. Let us also, the holy people of God, beholding the fulfillment of the symbols, be divinely glad; for Christ has risen as Almighty.

katavasia: May divinely speaking Abbacum …

Ode 5

Eirmos: Let us arise in the deep dawn and, instead of myrrh, offer a hymn to the Lord, and we shall behold Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, Who causes life to dawn for all.

Refrain: Christ is risen from the dead.

When they who were held by the chains of hell beheld Thy boundless compassion, O Christ, they hastened to the light with joyful feet, exalting the eternal Pascha.

Bearing lights, let us meet Christ, Who comes forth from the tomb like a bridegroom. And with the ranks of joyfully celebrating Angels, let us celebrate the redeeming Pascha of God.

katavasia: Let us arise…

Ode 6

Eirmos: Thou did descend into the nether regions of earth, O Christ, and did shatter the eternal bars which held the prisoners captive; and like Jonah from the sea-monster, after three days Thou did rise from the grave.

Refrain: Christ is risen from the dead.

Having kept the seals intact, Thou did rise from the grave, O Christ, Who did not violate the Virgin's womb by Thy birth, and Thou hast opened to us the gates of Paradise.

O my Savior, while as God Thou did voluntarily offer Thyself to the Father as an unslain and living sacrifice, Thou did raise up with Thyself the whole race of Adam, when Thou did rise from the grave.

katavasia: Thou did descend…

Kontakion: Though Thou did descend into the grave, O Immortal One, yet did Thou destroy the power of hell, and did rise again as a conqueror, O Christ our Lord, saying to the myrrh-bearing women, rejoice! And giving peace to Thine Apostles, and offering Resurrection to the fallen.

Eikos: The myrrh-bearing maidens anticipated the dawn and sought, as those who seek the day, their Sun, Who was before the sun and Who had once sat in the grave. And they cried to each other: Friends, come, let us anoint with spices His life-giving and buried body — the Flesh Who raised up fallen Adam, and Who now lies in the tomb. Let us go, let us hasten, and like the Magi, let us worship; and let us bring myrrh as a gift to Him, Who is wrapped, not now in swaddling clothes, but in a shroud. And let us weep and cry: Arise, O Lord, Who offers Resurrection to the fallen.

Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ, let us adore the Holy Lord Jesus, the only sinless One. We worship Thy Cross, O Christ, and Thy Holy Resurrection we praise and glorify; for Thou art our God, and we know no other than Thee; we call upon Thy name. O come all you faithful, let us worship Christ's holy Resurrection. For behold, through the Cross joy has come to all the world. Ever blessing the Lord, let us praise His Resurrection. By enduring the Cross for us He destroyed death by death. (Thrice)

Jesus, having risen from the grave as He foretold, has given us eternal life and great mercy. (Thrice)

Ode 7

Eirmos: He Who delivered the children from the furnace, and became man and suffered as a mortal, through His suffering, He clothes mortality with the grace of incorruption, He is the only blessed and most glorious God of our fathers.

Refrain: Christ is risen from the dead.

The godly wise women came to Thee with myrrh. But Him Whom they sought with tears as dead, they joyfully adored as the living God. And they told to Thy disciples, O Christ, the glad tidings of the mystical Pascha.

We celebrate the death of death, the destruction of hell, the beginning of eternal life. And leaping for joy, we celebrate the Cause, the only blessed and most glorious God of our fathers.

For a truly holy and a supreme feast is this saving night radiant with Light, the harbinger of the bright day of Resurrection, on which the Eternal Light shone bodily from the grave upon all.

katavasia: He Who delivered…

Ode 8

Eirmos: This is the chosen and Holy Day, the first of Sabbaths, the Sovereign and Queen, the Feast of Feasts, and Triumph of Triumphs, on which let us bless Christ forever.

Refrain: Christ is risen from the dead.

O come, let us partake of the fruit of the new vine of divine joy on the auspicious Day of the Resurrection and Kingdom of Christ, praising Him as God forever.

Cast thine eyes about thee, O Zion, and behold! For lo! Thy children have assembled unto thee from the West and from the North and from the South and from the East, as divinely radiant luminaries, Blessing Christ unto the ages.

Refrain: O Most Holy Trinity, our God, glory to Thee.

Father, Almighty, the Word, and the Spirit, one Nature in three Persons united, transcending essence supremely Divine! In Thee we have been baptized, and Thee will bless us throughout all ages.

katavasia: This is the chosen…

Ode 9

Refrain 1: Magnify, O my soul, Him Whom suffered willingly and was buried and rose from the grave on the third day.

Eirmos: Shine, shine, O New Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord has risen upon thee. Now dance for joy and be glad, O Zion! And thou, pure Mother of God, rejoice in the rising of Him Whom thou didst bear.

Refrain 2: Magnify, O my soul, Christ the life-giver, Who rose from the grave on the third day.

Again: Shine, shine…

Refrain 3: Christ is the New Pascha, the living sacrificial Victim, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.

Troparion: O divine, O dear, O sweetest Voice! For Thou, O Christ, hast faithfully promised to be with us to the end of the world. And holding fast this promise as an anchor of hope, we the faithful rejoice.

Refrain 4: The Angel cried to her who is full of grace: Rejoice, pure Virgin! And again I say, Rejoice! Thy Son has risen on the third day from the grave, and has raised the dead. Rejoice, you people!

Again: O divine, O dear…

Refrain 5: Roaring royally, as the Lion of Judas, Thou hast slept, and Thou hast awakened the dead of all past ages.

Again: O divine, O dear…

Refrain 6: Mary Magdalene ran to the sepulchre, and she saw Christ, and spoke to Him as to the gardener.

Troparion: O great and holiest Pascha, Christ! O Wisdom, Word and Power of God! Grant that we may more perfectly partake of Thee in the unending Day of Thy Kingdom.

Refrain 7: The radiant Angel cried to the women: Stop your tears, for Christ has risen.

Refrain 8: You people, rejoice, for Christ has risen, trampling down death and raising the dead.

Refrain 9: Today all creation is glad and rejoices, for Christ has risen and hell has been conquered.

Refrain 10: Today the Master conquered hell and raised the prisoners from all the ages which it had held in bitter bondage.

Refrain 11: Magnify, O my soul, the might of the Tri-Personed and Undivided Godhead.

Refrain 12: Rejoice, O Virgin, rejoice! Rejoice, O blessed one! Rejoice, O glorious one! For thy Son has risen from the grave on the third day.

katavasia: Shine, shine…