Easter Water is the name given to water used in rituals during the Easter Vigil in the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churches, and Anglican Communion. A part of this water is set aside for use as a sacramental in the church and at home, the remainder being ceremonially mixed with consecrated oils and used for baptisms in the church. [1]
Easter Water is water blessed in special ceremonies on Holy Saturday (as in the Roman Catholic Church) at sunrise, or during the last few minutes before dawn. Part of the ceremony involves lowering the Easter Candle into the blessed water three times, representing the death and rebirth of Christ. The water symbolizes life and death, as well as repentance of sin and rebirth into a new life. [2] The blessing of the Easter water, according to The Lutheran Missal, takes place according to the following form: [3]
The priest, other sacred ministers, and baptismal candidates proceed to the font as a litany is sung, bringing the paschal candle with them. After a brief prayer, the priest proceeds into a sung preface equal to or slightly lengthier than the Exultet. During the singing of this preface, the water is divided repeatedly in the shape of a cross, the priest blows on the water in an exsufflation similar to that at baptism, and he takes water in his hand and sprinkles it in four directions, representing the rivers of Paradise. Finally, the base of the blessed paschal candle, lit with the new fire, is dipped into the font, and the priest again blows on the water, this time in the shape of the Greek letter Ψ (psi) or the Hebrew letter ש (shin/sin), depending on the source in question. This dipping of the paschal candle and the subsequent exsufflation are done three times in total. Once this preface has come to its conclusion, the priest takes one spatula in each hand, one dipped in chrism, the other in the oil of catechumens, using them to make the sign of the cross in the water three times. Following this, any baptismal candidates are baptized, and a brief litany might be sung, or the completion of the litany begun before the blessing of the font, or the Kyrie in the paschal tone is simply intoned. [3]
In Christian Churches of the Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican traditions, the Easter Water is then used for baptisms after the Easter Vigil. [4]
The water is blessed by Christian clergy using the following prayer:
"Whatever it sprinkles in the homes of the faithful, may it be cleansed and delivered from harm. Let such homes enjoy a spirit of goodness and an atmosphere of tranquility, freed from harmful or hidden snares. By the sprinkling of this water, may everything opposed to the safety of them that dwell there be banished, so that they may possess the well-being they seek in calling upon Thy holy Name, protected from every evil." [5]
This Easter water may be taken home to bless the house, as well as Easter food. [5] The head of household of a Christian family (along with the entire family) may recite the aforementioned prayer as well. [5]
In Normandy, Saxony, and Silesia, Easter Water has been thought by some to have dermatological properties against eczema, acne, and even leprosy.[ citation needed ] In Quebec and northern regions of France, it is believed also to have healing effects on vision and is used as a valuable eye lotion.[ citation needed ] Easter Water has also been used for the treatment of diarrhea and fever.[ citation needed ]
In Quebec, it was thought to protect against elements such as lightning, thunder, and even the wind. It was also believed to keep away evil spirits, misfortunes, and fatalities. Easter Water is still used in ceremonies to bless homes using the blessed branches. [6]
Washing in Easter Water was believed to afford long-lasting freshness of the skin and to give women who bathed in a stream or river on the eve of Easter, "beauty and seduction, provided it had done so in silence and in secret." It is also said that men plunged into a river on Easter morning to "gain strength and health throughout the year." [7]
A Paschal candle is a large, white candle used in liturgies in Western Christianity. A new Paschal candle is blessed and lit every year at Easter, and is used throughout the Paschal season which is during Easter and then throughout the year on special occasions, such as baptisms and funerals.
Holy Week is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. For all Christian traditions, it is a moveable observance. In Eastern Christianity, which also calls it Great Week, it is the week following Great Lent and Lazarus Saturday, starting on the evening of Palm Sunday and concluding on the evening of Great Saturday. In Western Christianity, Holy Week is the sixth and last week of Lent, beginning with Palm Sunday and concluding on Holy Saturday.
Holy Saturday, also known as Great and Holy Saturday, Low Saturday, the Great Sabbath, Hallelujah Saturday, Saturday of the Glory, Sábado de Gloria, and Black Saturday or Easter Eve, and called "Joyous Saturday", "the Saturday of Light", and "Mega Sabbatun" among Coptic Christians, is the final day of Holy Week, between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, when Christians prepare for the latter.
The Paschal Triduum or Easter Triduum, Holy Triduum, or the Three Days, is the period of three days that begins with the liturgy on the evening of Maundy Thursday, reaches its high point in the Easter Vigil, and closes with evening prayer on Easter Sunday. It is a moveable observance recalling the Passion, Crucifixion, Death, burial, and Resurrection of Jesus, as portrayed in the canonical Gospels.
Holy water is water that has been blessed by a member of the clergy or a religious figure, or derived from a well or spring considered holy. The use for cleansing prior to a baptism and spiritual cleansing is common in several religions, from Christianity to Sikhism. The use of holy water as a sacramental for protection against evil is common among Lutherans, Anglicans, Roman Catholics, and Eastern Christians.
Eastertide or Paschaltide is a festal season in the liturgical year of Christianity that focuses on celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Preceded by Lent, it begins on Easter Sunday, which initiates Easter Week in Western Christianity, and Bright Week in Eastern Christianity.
The Easter Vigil, also called the Paschal Vigil, the Great Vigil of Easter, or Holy Saturday in the Easter Vigil on the Holy Night of Easter is a liturgy held in traditional Christian churches as the first official celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. Historically, it is during this liturgy that people are baptized and that adult catechumens are received into full communion with the Church. It is held in the hours of darkness between sunset on Holy Saturday and sunrise on Easter Day – most commonly in the evening of Holy Saturday or midnight – and is the first celebration of Easter, days traditionally being considered to begin at sunset.
The Litany of the Saints is a formal prayer of the Roman Catholic Church as well as the Old Catholic Church, Anglo-Catholic communities, and Western Rite Orthodox communities. It is a prayer to the Triune God, which also includes invocations for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Angels and all the martyrs and saints upon whom Christianity was founded, and those recognised as saints through the subsequent history of the church. Following the invocation of the saints, the Litany concludes with a series of supplications to God to hear the prayers of the worshippers. It is most prominently sung during the Easter Vigil, All Saints' Day, and in the liturgy for conferring Holy Orders, the Consecration of a Virgin and reception of the perpetual vows of a religious or a diocesane hermit.
The Exsultet, also known as the Easter Proclamation, is a lengthy sung proclamation delivered before the paschal candle, ideally by a deacon, during the Easter Vigil in the Roman Rite of Mass. In the absence of a deacon, it may be sung by a priest or by a cantor. It is sung after a procession with the paschal candle before the beginning of the Liturgy of the Word. It is also used in Anglican and various Lutheran churches, as well as other Western Christian denominations.
Orthros or útrenya in the Byzantine Rite of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches, is the last of the four night offices, the other three being vespers, compline, and midnight office. Traditionally, in monasteries it is held daily so as to end immediately following sunrise, in contrast to parishes where it is held only on Sundays and feast days. It is often called matins after the office it most nearly corresponds to in Western Christian churches.
Asperges is the rite of sprinkling a congregation with holy water. The name comes from the first word in the 9th verse of Psalm 51 in the Latin translation which is sung during the traditional form of the rite except during Eastertide. The 51st Psalm is also one of the antiphons that may be sung in the rite under the Mass of Paul VI.
The term "Celtic Rite" is applied to the various liturgical rites used in Celtic Christianity in Britain, Ireland and Brittany and the monasteries founded by St. Columbanus and Saint Catald in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy during the Early Middle Ages. The term is not meant to imply homogeneity; instead it is used to describe a diverse range of liturgical practices united by lineage and geography.
Easter Saturday, on the Christian calendar, is the seventh day of Eastertide, being the Saturday of Easter or Bright Week. In the kalendar of Western Christianity it is the last day of Easter Week, sometimes referred to as the Saturday of Easter Week or Saturday in Easter Week. It is the seventh day in the Octave of Easter too. In the liturgy of Eastern Christianity it is the last day of Bright Week, and called Bright Saturday, The Bright and Holy Septave Saturday of Easter Eve, or The Bright and Holy Septave Paschal Artos and Octoechoes Saturday of Iscariot's Byzantine Easter Eve. Easter Saturday is the day preceding the Second Sunday of Easter.
In the history of Christianity, the African Rite refers to a now defunct Christian, Latin liturgical rite, and is considered a development or possibly a local use of the primitive Roman Rite. Centered around the Archdiocese of Carthage in the Early African church, it used the Latin language.
Bright Week, Pascha Week or Renewal Week is the name used by the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Rite Catholic Churches for the period of seven days beginning on Easter and continuing up to the following Sunday, which is known as Thomas Sunday.
The Mass is the central liturgical service of the Eucharist in the Catholic Church, in which bread and wine are consecrated and become the body and blood of Christ. As defined by the Church at the Council of Trent, in the Mass "the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross, is present and offered in an unbloody manner". The Church describes the Mass as the "source and summit of the Christian life", and teaches that the Mass is a sacrifice, in which the sacramental bread and wine, through consecration by an ordained priest, become the sacrificial body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ as the sacrifice on Calvary made truly present once again on the altar. The Catholic Church permits only baptised members in the state of grace to receive Christ in the Eucharist.
The Mass of the Lord's Supper, also known as A Service of Worship for Maundy Thursday, is a Holy Week service celebrated on the evening of Maundy Thursday. It inaugurates the Easter Triduum, and commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples, more explicitly than other celebrations of the Mass.
Eastern Orthodox worship in this article is distinguished from Eastern Orthodox prayer in that 'worship' refers to the activity of the Christian Church as a body offering up prayers to God while 'prayer' refers to the individual devotional traditions of the Orthodox.
Easter fires, also called Paschal fires, are typically bonfires lit at Easter as part of liturgical and cultural celebrations.
The liturgical reforms of Pope Pius XII took place mostly between 1947 and 1958.