Pentecostarion

The name means the Book of the "Fifty Days", referring to the period of time from Pascha to Pentecost.

So, just as Great Lent, with its liturgical book, the Triodion, was the final period of preparation for the catechumens before their baptism, so the time of the Pentecostarion is the time of initiation into the Sacred Mysteries of the Christian religion for the "Newly Illumined" (i.e., the newly baptized).

The two Sacred Mysteries of baptism and chrismation are reflected in the two feasts which mark the beginning and ending points of the Pentecostarion: Pascha and Pentecost.

[1] The services of the Pentecostarion begin during the Paschal Vigil starting at the stroke of midnight on Easter Sunday.

The reading of the Psalter, which normally forms a major portion of all of the Daily Offices, is completely omitted.

In the temple (church building), the Holy Doors on the iconostasis are left open for the entire week, symbolizing the open Tomb of Christ, and the Epitaphion (shroud) is visible on the Holy Table (altar), representing the burial cloths (John 20:6) which, according to Christian tradition, bore witness to the Resurrection of Jesus.

At the end of either Matins or the Divine Liturgy, there is often a crucession (procession headed by the cross), during which the Paschal Canon is chanted, and the priest blesses with holy water.

Only on Bright Friday are the Paschal hymns joined to another commemoration, that of the icon of the Theotokos, "Life-giving Spring".

Because the celebration of any memorial service for the departed is forbidden from Holy Thursday through Thomas Sunday, a popular tradition has arisen of visiting the graves of departed loved ones and chanting memorial services on the first day this is permitted.

However, after the Divine Liturgy, it is customary for the faithful to visit cemeteries and serve memorial services, and to give alms in the name of the departed.

[4] It is not unusual for families to bring a picnic with them to the cemeteries, which would include paschal foods, especially Easter eggs.

[c] The theme for this Sunday is the man who lay by the Sheep's Pool in Jerusalem for thirty-eight years.

The Kontakion for this day asks Christ to raise up the souls of the faithful, "paralyzed by sins and thoughtless acts."

The feast of the Paralytic is unusual in the Pentecostarion in that it does not last a full week, but ends on the day before Mid-Pentecost.

[f] This indicates the traditional Christian teaching that in the act of salvation Jesus makes his disciples a "new creation".

In the blind man's dialogue with the Pharisees, he holds his own in the dispute, engaging in reasoned theological discourse as though he were educated.

According to the more modern practice in the Greek Orthodox Church (those following the "Typicon of the Great Church") the Apodosis of the Blind Man is chanted on Tuesday, while all of the services of Wednesday (Vespers on Tuesday evening; Matins, Little Hours and Divine Liturgy on Wednesday morning) are chanted in the special Paschal form that was used during Bright Week.

The Epitaphion (shroud), which had been on the Holy Table since the Paschal Vigil, is removed before the beginning of this service as an indication that the Ascension marked the end of Jesus' physical presence with his disciples after the Resurrection.

The Seventh Sunday of Pascha,[10] which falls during the Afterfeast of the Ascension, commemorates the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council (325 AD).

In addition to defending Christianity against Arianism, the council also passed a number of canons concerning church discipline, and also decreed that the date for celebrating Pascha both be reckoned independently from the Jewish Passover and be uniform throughout the world.

The prokeimenon at Vespers and God is the Lord at Matins are replaced by Alleluia, and a number of structural changes are made to the services following the pattern of the Saturdays of the Dead which fall during Great Lent.

This is a Vespers service to which are added three sets of long poetical prayers, the composition of Saint Basil the Great, during which everyone makes a full prostration, touching their foreheads to the floor (prostrations in church having been forbidden from the day of Pascha up to this point).

The churches are decorated with greenery, and among the Russians the clergy and faithful carry flowers and green branches in their hands during the services.

[15] The Orthodox icon of the feast depicts the Twelve Apostles seated in a semicircle (sometimes the Theotokos (Virgin Mary) is shown sitting in the center of them).