Orthodox Devotional for Pascha

“We waited and at last our expectations were fulfilled. When the Patriarch sang “Christ is risen”, a heavy burden fell from our souls. We felt as if we also has been raised from the dead. All at once, from all around, the same cry resounded like the noise of many waters. “Christ is risen” sang the Greeks, the Russians, the Arabs, the Serbs, the Copts, the Armenians, the Ethiopians — one after another, each in his own tongue, in his own melody… Coming out of the service at dawn, we began to regard everything in the light of the glory of Christ’s Resurrection, and all appeared different from what if had yesterday; everything seemed better, more expressive, more glorious. Only in the light of the Resurrection does life receive meaning.”

 St Nikolai Velimirovich, describing the Paschal service in Jerusalem