On April 12, Orthodox Christians observed Pascha (from the Hebrew pesach, meaning Passover), or Easter. The Orthodox Church exalts Pascha as, the most significant Christian holiday, the “feast of feasts” in which believers celebrate Christ’s victory over the grave, through which we are liberated from death and transfigured into the saints that God calls us to become. I had the privilege of celebrating this year’s Paschal Vigil at Dormition Orthodox Church in Norfolk. Because I am new to Orthodoxy, this was a fresh experience for me. I was struck by the Vigil’s joy, sublimity, and symbolism, and I can confidently remark that it was the most rewarding church service I have ever attended. The Orthodox Paschal Vigil is a threehour service divided into two parts: the Nocturns and the Divine Liturgy. I will recount the Nocturns, which began shortly before midnight. At the center of the nave, the area where parishioners stand, sat a wooden table adorned with flowers, symbolizing Christ’s tomb. The epitaphios (Greek for “on the tomb”), a large cloth with an embroidered image of Christ’s body, lay on the tomb. The service opened with the Midnight Office, a collection of readings and hymns that commemorated the Crucifixion and the Harrowing of Hades (see 1 Pet. 4:6; Eph. 4:9), and eloquently proclaimed that Christ’s death was not a defeat, but a triumph: “By death dost Thou transform mortality, and by Thy burial, corruption…Thou makest incorruptible the [human] nature Thou hast taken, rendering it immortal.” The climax of the Nocturns came just before midnight in a fictional conversation between Christ and Mary. “[T]he gatekeepers of hell tremble as they see me,” Christ tells his Mother, “for on the Cross as God have I struck down mine enemies.” The choir then forcefully sang the soul-stirring words, “Weep not for Me, O Mother… for I shall rise,” reaching a majestic crescendo as the priest lifted the epitaphios and carried it to the altar, dramatically symbolizing the Resurrection. During the final moments before midnight, a church bell tolled slowly, and every light in the church was extinguished except for a candle on the altar. At exactly midnight, multiple church bells began briskly chiming in various tones. The priest emerged from the altar, which is separated from the nave by an icon wall, with a triple candlestick in hand, singing, “Come ye and receive light from the unwaning light, and glorify Christ, who arose from the dead.” From the triple candlesick, which represents the Holy Trinity, the first row of parishioners lit their handheld candles and lit others’ candles in turn. As the candlelight spread throughout the room, the darkness of Christ’s death was overcome by the golden glow of the Resurrection, “the dawn of the new and unending day.” At this point, the entire congregation exited the church led by a tall processional cross carried by a deacon. We completed several laps around Dormition’s small parking lot singing a few hymns, then the procession stopped at the church’s front doors. Because this is a symbolic reenactment of the Myrrhbearing Women (Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome) discovering Christ’s empty tomb, the priest read several verses from Mark 16, and the choir sang the famous Paschal troparion, “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.” The priest and parishioners also exchanged the classic Paschal greeting, “Christ is risen! / Indeed he is risen!” in too many languages to count. The Nocturns concluded with an entertaining dramatization of Psalm 24. The priest, still holding the triple candlestick in his left hand, pounds on the church doors, yelling, “Lift up your gates, O ye princes; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting gates, and the King of glory shall enter in.” “Who is the King of Glory?” responds a raspy voice hidden behind the doors. “The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in war,” the priest answers. This dialogue was repeated twice, with the priest opening the church doors and leading the crowd inside during his final response, “The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory!” These words and symbols highlight the central truth of the Christian faith: Christ’s Resurrection is not merely a discrete historical event; it is an uncontainable and perpetual reality, a “new and unending day.” Its power is ever-present in our lives because “Christ is risen from the dead.” Christ is risen now; death is trampled down now; the dead receive life now. This offers everyone the continuous opportunity to be renewed, cleansed from sin, and transfigured into the “image of the heavenly Man” (1 Cor. 15:49) from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor. 3:18). May Christ’s Pascha stir us all to be steadfast in our repentance and immovable in our faithfulness to Him who remains faithful to us unto ages of ages.