When can Easter be taken from the Coronation Cathedral in Alba Iulia. What it means, how and when it is consumed. SCHEDULE for Easter 2024

Easter 2024. When can Easter be taken from the Coronation Cathedral in Alba Iulia. This year, the Passover distribution takes place on both Saturday and Easter Sunday. The Orthodox Archdiocese of Alba Iulia announced the program.

And this year, the faithful will receive the blessed bread, popularly called “Easter”, at the Coronation Cathedral. Their distribution is done under the bell tower, within three distinct time intervals.

“Easter” will be distributed:

• on Holy Saturday (May 4), between 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m
• on Easter Sunday (May 5), between 03.00-03.30 and 10.00-12.00.

EASTER 2024: Easter distribution program at the Coronation Cathedral in Alba Iulia. Liturgical program: Resurrection service, officiated by ÎPS Irineu

When can Easter be taken? How bread is consecrated

The “Easter” that the faithful receive on the holy night of the Resurrection or on the morning of this holiday, represents the consecrated bread and wine blessed in the church, during the holy Liturgy.

In churches, the bread is consecrated before the liturgy of Saint Basil the Great on Easter Saturday, by sprinkling it with pure wine and holy water.

The prayer the priest says at that moment is:

“Almighty God and Almighty God,

Which you commanded your servant Moses, when Israel came out of Egypt

and at the liberation of Your people from the bitter slavery of Pharaoh, to slay the lamb, which previously represented the Lamb, the One who willingly slayed Himself for us on the Cross, taking upon Himself the sins of the whole world,

to Your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to You and now humbly we beseech You,

look for this bread and bless and sanctify it.

That we, Your servants, have now brought this before Your glory on this most brilliant, most glorified and redeeming day of Easter,

to the honor and glory and to the remembrance of the glorious resurrection of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,

by which from the eternal captivity of the enemy and from the unloosed bonds of hell I found release, deliverance, and exit.

So we too, who have brought it and kiss it and will taste of it, make us partakers of your heavenly blessing and drive away from us, with your power, all sickness and weakness, giving us all health.

That You are the source of blessing and the Giver of healings and to You, the Father without beginning, we raise glory, together with Your Only-Begotten Son and Your Most Holy and good and life-giving Spirit, now and ever and to the ages of ages. Amen” – source Iosefin Orthodox Parish.

When can Easter be taken? How to consume

After saying this prayer, the priest blesses the bread and wine with holy water, saying:

“This bread is blessed and sanctified, by sprinkling it with this holy water, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. (three times).”

The consecration of the bread and wine called “Easter”, which the faithful take home, symbolizes that the body of Christ, that is, the Holy Church, was sealed and sanctified by the drops of blood that flowed from the wounds of the crucified Savior on the Cross of Calvary.

The liturgical order specifies that, before taking holy Easter, we must pray, we must partake of the Holy Mysteries, that is, the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Holy Easter is consumed on the night of the Lord’s Resurrection after the end of the Holy Liturgy or on Resurrection Sunday, also after the Holy Liturgy, if it was not celebrated at night, before we sit down to the Easter table.

EASTER WISHES 2024 Messages and CONGRATULATIONS on the Resurrection of the Lord. Send a good thought to your loved ones for the Holidays

Also, a small part of this Easter is consumed in the morning, on all the days of this holiday, always without food and on the days of Bright Week, until Thomas Sunday (the first after Easter).

According to an old custom, the oldest member of the family takes a piece of the holy Easter, says “Christ is risen” and gives it to another member of the family, who answers “He is truly risen” and makes the sign of the Holy Cross. This order is repeated three times.

Tradition also says that, before Easter, people must wash themselves with water from a glass in which a red egg has been placed, in this way their face will be smooth and red like the shell of the egg.

What does the word “Easter” mean?

The word “Passover” means “passover”, (Pesah – in Hebrew, a term taken from the Egyptians) and is used for the first time in the Old Testament during the time of Moses, when, on the evening before leaving the Egyptian captivity, they celebrated in silence the fact that they will cross the Red Sea to the Promised Land, “flowing with milk and honey” (the Land of Israel).

This term was also taken over by Christians, but its meaning is completely different, even if the translation has been preserved.

For those who follow the Savior Christ, Easter means the transition from the life lived in lethargy, indifference and spiritual ignorance, to the life of communion with God, of returning to the fullness of paradisiacal joy. It is a celebration of joy and forgiveness, courage and dignity.