Redwood Times

During the week of the Jewish Passover (April 20-26 this year) the world’s 250 million Orthodox Christians will celebrate their Holy Week, concluding with “Pascha” (Easter), the “feast of feasts.”

Orthodox Easter, the most dramatic of all the services of the Eastern Christian tradition, follows the ancient pattern of Jewish-Christian worship that originated in the Temple, continued with the apostles, and endures to this day at churches in communion with the mother Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem. The center of Orthodox Christianity remains the Church of Jerusalem, where the holy sites, including the Holy Sepulchre, have always been owned by the Greek Orthodox community. There the ancient Paschal ceremony of the “Holy Fire” is enacted, and broadcast live in many Orthodox countries including Greece and Russia.

This event has its counterpart in the midnight service at St. Innocent Church in Eureka on the night of April 26-27. When worshippers have gathered, all illumination is extinguished and the temple is brought to complete darkness. The priest emerges from the sanctuary in white vestments, ringing bells and carrying the “paschal fire,” while the choir

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sings the hymn “Come, receive the light that is never conquered by darkness.” The flame is distributed to candles held by all present. Singing, the faithful make a candle-lit procession around the church, entering again to celebrate the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, a fourth-century bishop revered by Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants alike.

Everyone is invited to experience this moving “pilgrimage to ancient Zion” by attending the public service at St. Innocent Church, 939 F St., Eureka. The service starts at 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 26, and ends at 1 a.m. Sunday, April 27. For more information, call the church office at 433-2099.