The
Paschal troparion or
Christos anesti (Greek: Χριστὸς ἀνέστη) is the characteristic
hymnA hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...
for the celebration of
PaschaEaster is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
(Easter) in the
Eastern Orthodox ChurchThe Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the
Byzantine RiteThe Byzantine Rite, sometimes called the Rite of Constantinople or Constantinopolitan Rite is the liturgical rite used currently by all the Eastern Orthodox Churches, by the Greek Catholic Churches , and by the Protestant Ukrainian Lutheran Church...
.
Like most
tropariaA troparion in Byzantine music and in the religious music of Eastern Orthodox Christianity is a short hymn of one stanza, or one of a series of stanzas. The word probably derives from a diminutive of the Greek tropos...
it is a brief stanza often used as a refrain between the verses of a
PsalmThe Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
, but is also used on its own. Its authorship is unknown. It is nominally sung in
ToneEchos is the name in Byzantine music theory for a mode within the eight mode system , each of them ruling several melody types, and it is used in the melodic and rhythmic composition of Byzantine chant , differentiated according to the chant genre and according to the performance style...
Five, but often is sung in special melodies not connected with the
OctoechosThe Octoechos —literally, the book "of the Eight Tones"—contains an eight-week cycle, providing texts to be chanted for every day at Vespers, Matins, the Divine Liturgy, Compline and the Midnight Office...
. It is often chanted thrice (three times in succession).
Usage
The troparion is first sung during the
Paschal VigilThe Easter Vigil, also called the Paschal Vigil or the Great Vigil of Easter, is a service held in many Christian churches as the first official celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. Historically, it is during this service that people are baptized and that adult catechumens are received into...
at the end of the
processionA Crucession, or Cross Procession , is a procession that takes place in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic liturgical traditions. The name derives from the fact that the procession is headed by a cross....
around the church which takes place at the beginning of
MatinsMatins is the early morning or night prayer service in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran and Eastern Orthodox liturgies of the canonical hours. The term is also used in some Protestant denominations to describe morning services.The name "Matins" originally referred to the morning office also...
. When all are gathered before the church's closed front door, the clergy and faithful take turns chanting the troparion, and then it is used as a
refrainA refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...
to a selection of verses from Psalms 67 and 117 (this is the
Septuagint numbering; the KJV numbering is 68 and 118):
Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered; let those who hate Him flee from before His face (Ps. 68:1)
As smoke vanishes, so let them vanish; as wax melts before the fire (Ps. 68:2a)
So the sinners will perish before the face of God; but let the righteous be glad (Ps. 68:2b)
This is the day which the Lord hath made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Ps. 118:24)
In the remainder of the
VigilThe All-Night Vigil , Opus 37, is an a cappella choral composition by Sergei Rachmaninoff,written and premiered in 1915. It consists of settings of texts taken from the Russian Orthodox All-night vigil ceremony. It has been praised as Rachmaninoff's finest achievement and "the greatest musical...
it is sung after each
odeOde is a type of lyrical verse. A classic ode is structured in three major parts: the strophe, the antistrophe, and the epode. Different forms such as the homostrophic ode and the irregular ode also exist...
of the
canonA canon is a structured hymn used in a number of Eastern Orthodox services. It consists of nine odes, sometimes called canticles or songs depending on the translation, based on the Biblical canticles. Most of these are found in the Old Testament, but the final ode is taken from the Magnificat and...
, at the end of the Paschal stichera at the
ApostichaThe Aposticha are a set of hymns accompanied by psalm verses that are chanted towards the end of Vespers and Matins in the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches that follow the Byzantine Rite....
, thrice at the
dismissalThe Dismissal is the final blessing said by a Christian priest or minister at the end of a religious service. In liturgical churches the dismissal will often take the form of ritualized words and gestures, such as raising the minister's hands over the congregation, or blessing with the sign of the...
of Matins, and at the beginning and end of the
Paschal HoursThe Paschal Hours are the form in which the Little Hours are chanted on Pascha and throughout Bright Week in the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite.Specifically, the Paschal Hours replace:...
. It is chanted again with the same selection of Psalm verses at the beginning of the
Divine LiturgyDivine Liturgy is the common term for the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine tradition of Christian liturgy. As such, it is used in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches. Armenian Christians, both of the Armenian Apostolic Church and of the Armenian Catholic Church, use the same term...
, at the
Little EntranceIn Eastern Orthodoxy, an entrance is a procession during which the clergy enter into the sanctuary through the Holy Doors. The origin of these entrances goes back to the early church, when the liturgical books and sacred vessels were kept in special storage rooms for safe keeping and the procession...
, during and following
CommunionThe Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
, and at the dismissal of the Liturgy. It is then chanted again with the refrains at the beginning of
VespersVespers is the evening prayer service in the Western Catholic, Eastern Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran liturgies of the canonical hours...
, and at the dismissal of Vespers. This same pattern persists throughout
Bright WeekBright Week or Renewal Week is the name used by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches of the Byzantine Rite for the period of seven days beginning on Pascha and continuing up to the following Sunday, which is known as Thomas Sunday...
.
After Thomas Sunday (the Sunday after Pascha), it is either sung or read thrice at the beginning of most services and private prayers in place of the usual invocation of the
Holy SpiritHoly Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...
, "O Heavenly King", and at the dismissals, during the 39-day paschal
afterfeastAn Afterfeast is a period of celebration attached to one of the Great Feasts celebrated by the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches ....
; that is, up to and including the day before the Ascension of the Lord.
Text and translations
The troparion was originally composed in
Koine GreekKoine Greek is the universal dialect of the Greek language spoken throughout post-Classical antiquity , developing from the Attic dialect, with admixture of elements especially from Ionic....
, but it is usually sung either in the local liturgical language, or in the
vernacularA vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
where it is not the same. In recent years, the custom has developed of chanting the Paschal troparion in a number of different languages. A typical translation in
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
runs:
- Christ is risen from the dead,
- Trampling down death by death,
- And upon those in the tombs
- Bestowing life!
Or, from the Byzantine, Ruthenian Rite
- Christ is risen from the dead,
- By death He conquered death,
- And to those in the graves
- He granted life!
In Old Slavonic:
- Christós voskrése iz mértvych,
- Smértiju smert' popráv,
- I súščym vo hrobích,
- živót darováv!
This translates the
GreekKoine Greek is the universal dialect of the Greek language spoken throughout post-Classical antiquity , developing from the Attic dialect, with admixture of elements especially from Ionic....
:
-
-
-
-
- Transliteration:
- Christós anésti ek nekrón,
- thanáto thánaton patísas,
- ké tís en tís mnímasi,
- zoín charisámenos!
During the Paschal Vigil and the
VespersVespers is the evening prayer service in the Western Catholic, Eastern Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran liturgies of the canonical hours...
the following afternoon is not uncommon for the troparion to be performed in as many languages as the choir can manage.
BulgarianBulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
- Христос възкръсна от мъртвите, като със смърт смъртта потъпка
- и на тия, които са в гробовете, дарува живот.
Church Slavonic
- Earlier version (currently only used by the Old Believers
In the context of Russian Orthodox church history, the Old Believers separated after 1666 from the official Russian Orthodox Church as a protest against church reforms introduced by Patriarch Nikon between 1652–66...
)
-
- Transliteration:
- Khristos voskrese iz mertvykh
- Smertiyu na smert nastupi
- I grobnym zhivot darova!
- Later version from the reforms of Patriarch Nikon
Nikon , born Nikita Minin , was the seventh patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church...
, currently in general use
-
- This language is not well-supported on many systems, so it may not appear as intended here.
- Transliteration:
- Khristos voskrese iz mertvykh,
- Smertiyu smert poprav,
- E sushchim vo grobekh
- Zhivot darovav!
ArabicArabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
و وطئ الموت بالموت
و وهب الحياة
للذين في القبور
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