The Roman Catholic Christians all over the world celebrate the return to life of Jesus Christ on April 9. The Resurrection starts to be celebrated on Saturday evening, when the faithful come to the Easter Vigil. At the Cathedral of Divine Providence in Chisinau, the Paschal Vigil begins at 8pm.
“The Lent came to an end and we are in the Holy Week. The celebration of Easter actually starts on Saturday evening. The Easter Vigil at our Cathedral starts at 8pm. At the other churches in the country it begins at around the same hour. This celebration is special as it consists of more parts and this is different from the ordinary, Sunday liturgical celebrations. It starts outside the church with the rite called the Blessing of Fire. From this Blessed Fire, the paschal candle is lit and all the faithful who are in the church then light their candles from this,” Anton Coșa, Bishop of the Roman-Catholic Church of the Republic of Moldova, has told IPN.
The celebration continues with the solemn proclaiming of the Resurrection in front of the paschal lights by a priest or a singer, who will underline the impotence of light and holy light, the symbol of the holy light – that Christ is the Light of the world. Seven readings from the Old and New Testament will follow and will end with prayers from the Bible.
“Ultimately, the Resurrection is proclaimed by Solemn Alleluia, which is followed by the last reading from the New Testament, from the Letters of Saint Paul. The rite of blessing of water and baptizing, if there are candidates, follows. There are no adult candidates for baptizing this year, but this rite of blessing of water with the renewal of the promises made during Christening is anyway held. It is a renewal of the Christening promises for always returning to our origin of Christians,” said the Bishop of the Roman-Catholic Church.
He noted the liturgy is then held as it is usually held on Sundays and feast days and the procession then goes around the church with the statute of the resurrected Christ. Later, the paschal food brought by the people in baskets to the church is blessed. This moment ends the evening celebration that lasts for about three hours.
The ordinary paschal liturgy is held on Easter Sunday, usually in four languages – Polish, Russian, Romanian and also Ukrainian, for the Greek-Catholic Ukrainians. The service starts at 10:30am and those who didn’t bless paschal food can do it after each paschal liturgy.
“The week after Easter is the Holy, White Week. Two services will be held each day, at 10am and 6pm, until Saturday. The ordinary program is resumed on Sunday,” stated Anton Coșa.
In Moldova, there are about 20,000 Catholics. The Orthodox Christians this year celebrate Easter in a week, on April 16.
