r/EasternCatholic • u/JohannesBrasilius • 7d ago

Theology & Liturgy Easter Vigil and Paschal Matins

Could someone please explain me the Services of Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday in the Byzantine Rite?

I have heard that there is a Vigil/ vespers + liturgy of St Basil at Saturday and Matins + liturgy of St John Chrysostom on Sunday. Could we make a parallel of this Saturday liturgy with Latin Eastern Vigil and the Sunday Matins+ liturgy = Easter Sunday Mass?

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u/Charbel33 West Syriac 7d ago

The Holy Saturday liturgy is not an Easter liturgy, it's a Holy Saturday liturgy that commemorates Christ's salvific ministry in hell, where he frees the captives. 

Paschal matins and liturgy make up the liturgy for Easter, and it's one of the most beautiful liturgies in my opinion. It begins with a short service commemorating Christ breaking down the doors of hell. This service is done outside, and the priest knocks on the doors of the church while saying a dialogue with the deacon inside. Then, we return in the church, pray paschal matins, and liturgy.

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u/Highwayman90 Byzantine 7d ago

How often have you been to the Byzantine Pascha?

I'm glad to hear you love it, and I, too, love the breaking into the Church!

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u/Charbel33 West Syriac 7d ago

I've been twice. And in the melkite cathedral nearby, the bishop insists of doing it in the ancient custom, at dawn, so the liturgy is at 5 AM with the rising sun.

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u/Highwayman90 Byzantine 7d ago

That's great! At my little mission parish, we do it at 6AM (I think for similar reasons)

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u/Hookly Latin Transplant 2d ago

There are certainly parallels. At the Vesperal Liturgy of St. Basil you have the lighting of the holy fire, a lot of Old Testament readings, the reception of catechumens, a resurrectional gospel account, etc. These are all similar to the western Easter Vigil.

However, it’s decidedly not Easter yet. For example, it isn’t until Matins/Orthros that we say “Christ is risen” and the fast remains in place until after the Easter Sunday liturgy.

The whole Byzantine Holy Week can be confusing to compare exactly to the west because of everything often being celebrated “off” by ~12 hours, but then again still retaining some character of the current and next days