The Greek Orthodox Easter Saturday Paschal vigil is not for the faint-hearted. It is a beautiful ceremony but can last nearly three hours. At the church of the Annunciation in Arbour Hill, Dublin, this weekend, it began at 10 p.m. and ended 2 3/4 hours later yesterday morning. And at Orthodox ceremonies people stand throughout - there are no pews, just some seats along the walls for the old and infirm.
The small church, which would comfortably hold maybe 150 people, was packed while about three times as many stood outside, each with a flickering Paschal candle. Those inside had to put their candles out as soon as the lighting ceremony had ended, for fear of fire.
At 9.55 p.m. on Saturday there was a loud "shhh . . ." followed by the peal of bells. The parish priest Father Ireneu emerged in white vestments carrying a large Paschal candle and chanting, in Greek and English, "Christ is risen".
He went down the middle of the church, answered by the congregation in chant, "He is risen indeed," as people reached forward to light their candles from his. He led the chanting congregation outside the church, where more people lit their candles. After walking among the congregation outside, with everyone chanting and bells pealing, he knocked on the church door, which had been locked. "Who is the King of Glory?" he was asked from inside, and replied that Christ was the King of Glory. The door was opened and he, along with those who were able to, went back inside the church.
The Paschal liturgy is similar to the Catholic Mass or Anglican Eucharist. The attendance included Orthodox Christians from Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Estonia, Latvia, as well as some from Lebanon, Palestine, and western converts from Ireland, England, Scotland, the US and France.
The Creed and Our Father were recited in Greek, English, Romanian, Arabic, Russian and Serbo-Croat, with Catherine O'Carroll from Portarlington reciting the Our Father in Irish. Her father Tom, a subdeacon with the church, became involved with the Greek Orthodox church while serving with the Air Corps as part of a UN contingent in Cyprus in the late 1960s.
At the end of the liturgy there was the blessing and distribution of Easter eggs, which had been donated by the congregation. Also distributed was bread soaked in wine, both in celebration of the end of the Lenten fast.
Father Ireneu thanked everyone for attending the "long vigil in the middle of the night in a small church where all were crowded together like a family", and he prayed for the "nations in the east of Europe we represent tonight in this church in the city of Dublin".
