Holy Week and Pascha in the Orthodox Church: The Services, Day by Day

A day-by-day guide to Orthodox Holy Week and Pascha, from Lazarus Saturday to Bright Week: what each service is, where it comes from, which customs are ancient and which recent, and where Greek and Slavic practice differ.

Published · Updated · By the HonestApologist editorial team · How we work

For Orthodox Christians the most important week of the year is not one service but a chain of them. From the Saturday before Palm Sunday to the night of Pascha (the Orthodox name for Easter), the parish church is open almost every evening.

For a newcomer the schedule can be confusing, and a Greek parish and a Russian parish may do some things differently. This guide walks through the week day by day, says where each service comes from, and marks where practice varies.

In brief

Holy Week (officially "Great and Holy Week") follows Christ's last days. It opens with two joyful feasts, Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday. On the next three evenings the "Bridegroom" services call the Church to watchfulness, and many parishes serve Holy Unction on Wednesday. Holy Thursday celebrates the Mystical Supper, and that evening the Twelve Passion Gospels are read. Holy Friday brings the Royal Hours, Vespers with the epitaphios (the cloth icon of Christ in the tomb) and, in the evening, the Lamentations. On Holy Saturday the Vesperal Liturgy of St. Basil already announces the Resurrection. Near midnight come the procession, Paschal Matins and the Catechetical Homily attributed to St. John Chrysostom. Bright Week follows. The core of this pattern is very old; several popular customs, especially in Greek parishes, are recent; and many details differ between Greek, Slavic and other traditions.

Thesis: Holy Week is the Church's yearly walk with Christ to the Cross and the empty tomb, and knowing which parts are ancient, which are recent and which are local helps a newcomer join in rather than simply watch.

How the week is arranged

The Church counts a day from sunset, and in Holy Week services have moved further still. Fr. Thomas Hopko's handbook for the Orthodox Church in America notes that Matins of Holy Friday "are generally celebrated on Thursday night," and Holy Saturday Matins on Friday night.1 The Greek liturgical scholar Fr. Pavlos Koumarianos dates this to the last two centuries: Matins moved to the evening before and Vespers to the morning, for reasons he calls "purely practical."2

The week's shape is ancient. {{very-strong: The pilgrim Egeria, writing from Jerusalem in the late fourth century, describes a gathering at Bethany on the Saturday before Palm Sunday and a procession with branches down the Mount of Olives the next day.}} At Bethany the Gospel "When Jesus six days before the Passover had come to Bethany" was read, and "notice is given of Easter."3 Today's services combine the old rites of Constantinople and Jerusalem with monastic hymns.4 For how the date of Pascha is set, see the Orthodox Church calendar; for the early dispute over it, the Quartodeciman controversy.

Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday

Great Lent ends on the Friday evening, and Saturday celebrates the raising of Lazarus (John 11). Hopko notes it is the only time Sunday's resurrection service is "celebrated on another day." The verse "As many as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Galatians 3:27) replaces the Thrice-Holy Hymn, a sign that this was once a baptismal day, and the troparion begins: "By raising Lazarus from the dead before Thy passion, Thou didst confirm the universal resurrection, O Christ God!"5

Palm Sunday, one of the Twelve Great Feasts, remembers the crowds who "took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him" (John 12:13, NKJV). Branches are blessed at Matins; Hopko notes they "are usually palms, or, in the Slavic churches, pussy willows," which bloom early.6

Holy Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday: the Bridegroom

Matins of these days, sung the night before, are called the Bridegroom services, after the parable of the ten virgins: "And at midnight a cry was heard: 'Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!'" (Matthew 25:6, NKJV). The troparion repeats it: "Behold, the bridegroom comes in the middle of the night and blessed is the servant whom he shall find watching."7

Fr. Alexander Schmemann points to the hymn sung after the canon on these days: "Thy Bridal Chamber I see adorned, O my Savior / And I have no wedding garment that I may enter."8 In Greek parishes an icon of Christ the Bridegroom is carried in procession, a custom Koumarianos counts among recent additions.9

Holy Unction on Wednesday (where kept)

In many parishes, especially Greek ones, Holy Unction is served for the whole congregation on Wednesday afternoon or evening. Fr. Peter Orfanakos describes seven Epistle and Gospel readings and seven prayers, each asking "for the remission of our sins, for the healing of our souls and bodies and for life everlasting."10 The faithful are then anointed. (On the sacrament itself, see Holy Unction: Biblical Anointing for Healing of Soul and Body.) Practice varies. Koumarianos finds no witness to a Holy Wednesday Unction even in the 1888 Typikon of Constantinople, and notes that in most Greek churches it now replaces Matins of Holy Thursday.11

Holy Thursday: the Mystical Supper

Holy Thursday remembers the Last Supper, the washing of the disciples' feet and Judas's betrayal. The Liturgy of St. Basil is joined to Vespers, and in place of the Cherubic Hymn the Church sings: "Of Thy mystical supper, O Son of God, accept me today a communicant ... but like the thief will I confess Thee: Remember me, O Lord, in Thy kingdom."12

The Twelve Gospels (Thursday evening)

That evening comes Matins of Holy Friday. Twelve Passion readings run from Christ's farewell discourse (John 13:31-18:1) to the sealing of the tomb (Matthew 27:62-66).13 People stand holding lit candles. Many Russian Orthodox carry the flame home. Igumen Pakhomy (Bruskov) calls this "simply a beautiful Russian tradition": the icon lamps at home are lit from it, and some keep that flame burning until Pascha.14 In Greek practice a large crucifix is carried in procession after the fifth Gospel. Koumarianos notes that the 1888 Typikon describes this procession "as is already customary almost everywhere," a custom only then becoming general.15

Holy Friday: the Cross and the burial

There is no Divine Liturgy on Holy Friday. In the morning the Royal Hours are read: the Passion Gospels again, with prophecies and psalms.16

At Vespers in the afternoon, after readings from Exodus, Job, Isaiah 52 and 1 Corinthians and a Gospel drawn from all four evangelists, the priest carries the epitaphios (Slavonic plaschanitsa) from the altar to a flower-decked "tomb" in the middle of the church, while the people sing: "The noble Joseph, when he had taken down Thy most pure body from the Tree, wrapped It in fine linen and anointed It with spices, and placed It in a new tomb."17 In Greek parishes the figure of Christ is also taken down from the crucifix during the Gospel, another rite Koumarianos dates to the nineteenth century or later.18

The Lamentations (Friday evening)

Matins of Holy Saturday, sung on Friday night, gathers the church around the tomb. Psalm 119 (118 in the Septuagint) is sung with short verses of praise for the dead Savior between its lines, such as "The mind is affrighted at Thy dread and strange burial." After the Great Doxology the people, holding candles and singing the Thrice-Holy Hymn, go in procession around the outside of the church, and Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones is read on their return. In Slavic usage the priest carries the Gospel Book with the winding-sheet held over his head; in Greek usage the epitaphios is a canopied bier, and the bier itself is carried.19

Holy Saturday: the Blessed Sabbath

On Saturday the Liturgy of St. Basil is joined to Vespers, though in many places it is served in the morning. Hopko describes fifteen Old Testament readings, including the creation, the Exodus, Jonah and the song of the Three Youths (Daniel 3).20 {{strong: In the ancient rite of Constantinople this was the Paschal vigil itself, when catechumens were baptized while the faithful listened to the readings.}}21 Romans 6 is read, and then comes the turn. While Psalm 82 (81 in the Septuagint) is sung, "Arise, O God, judge the earth" (verse 8, NKJV), the clergy change into bright vestments. Fr. John Jillions writes: "In the Slavic tradition as these verses are being sung the vestments and altar cloths are changed from black to white." In Greek and Arabic practice the priest throws laurel leaves through the church, and Cypriot congregations stamp and bang pews for the "harrowing of hell."22 The Resurrection Gospel (Matthew 28) follows.23 Koumarianos criticizes the popular Greek name "first resurrection," since the day belongs to Christ's rest in the tomb.24

Many Slavic Orthodox bring food to church on Holy Saturday or Pascha to be blessed.25 A rite of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada says the blessing of paska bread, eggs and meat lets the faithful "complete the fast," and asks people not to compete over "who has a bigger or more expensive basket."26

Pascha: the procession and Matins

A little before midnight the Midnight Office (Nocturne) is sung, and the priest carries the winding-sheet to the altar table, where it stays until the Ascension.27 In many parishes he then brings a flame from the light kept burning at the altar and invites the people to light their candles, singing "Come, receive light"; Koumarianos notes that the 1888 Typikon mentions this only as usual "in certain places."28

At midnight the people go out in procession singing, "The angels in heaven, O Christ our Savior, sing of Thy resurrection." Before the closed doors the Resurrection is proclaimed and the Paschal troparion is sung for the first time: "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life." Paschal Matins follows, entirely sung, with the canon "ascribed to Saint John of Damascus" (see Who Was St. John of Damascus?), whose first ode begins: "It is the day of resurrection! Let us be illumined for the feast!" Again and again the priest cries "Christ is risen!" and the people answer "Indeed He is risen!"29 The OCA lists the greeting in dozens of languages, among them Greek, "Christos anesti! Alithos anesti!", and Russian, "Khristos voskrese! Voistinu voskrese!"30

The Catechetical Homily

After Matins (in Hopko's account, after the Paschal Hours) the priest reads the Paschal (Catechetical) Homily attributed to St. John Chrysostom; in many Greek parishes it now comes near the end of the Liturgy. In the OCA's translation it opens: "If any man be devout and love God, let him enjoy this fair and radiant triumphal feast." It welcomes those who come "at the eleventh hour" with the first: "Rejoice today, both you who have fasted and you who have disregarded the fast. The table is full-laden; feast ye all sumptuously." It ends: "Christ is risen, and you are overthrown. Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen ... Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave."31 Hopko notes that, taken literally, the sermon invites everyone to Communion, and in some parishes all the faithful receive.32 (On Chrysostom, see Who Was St. John Chrysostom?)

{{debated: Whether Chrysostom actually wrote it is uncertain.}} Mark Huggins, whose 2021 Edinburgh thesis gives the first critical edition of the homily, notes "scholarly insistence for centuries that the attribution to Chrysostom must be mistaken." The earliest surviving attribution comes from St. Theodore the Studite in the ninth century, who also began the custom of reading it at the Paschal vigil.33

The Paschal Liturgy follows at once, with John 1:1-17 as its Gospel.34 Later on Pascha day many parishes serve Vespers, often called "Agape Vespers," with John 20:19-25, Christ's first appearance to the disciples.35

Bright Week

The week after Pascha is kept as one feast. The Council in Trullo (692) asked that "for a whole week" the faithful be "free from labour, rejoicing in Christ with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs."36 The royal doors of the iconostasis stay open, there is no fasting, and the week ends on Thomas Sunday.37 No service book calls for distributing red eggs, and an OCA answer suggests the custom is more common among Greeks than Slavs. It says their theological significance is "quite frankly, little," and that they belong to Pascha because eggs, given up in Lent, are eaten "to 'break the Fast.'"38

Questions people ask

"Isn't this just religious theater?"

Some visitors worry that processions and tombs turn worship into a show. Koumarianos makes a similar point from inside the Church: recent additions of a "representational or mimetic character," he argues, repeat the burial at least four times on Holy Friday and leave many thinking Christ rose on Saturday.39 The fair answer is that the core of the week is Scripture, psalms and the Eucharist, as Egeria already saw. Hopko insists the Holy Saturday services "are not at all a dramatic re-enactment"; the Church "does not pretend, as it were, that it does not know what will happen with the crucified Jesus." Even at the tomb it sings: "Thou didst slay hell with the splendor of Thy Godhead!"40

"Do I have to attend everything?"

No. Even Hopko notes that reading all four Gospels in the first days of the week "is not usually possible in parish churches."41 Most people choose a few services; Friday night and the Paschal service are good places to begin. Our guide to your first visit to an Orthodox church covers the practical details, and the Divine Liturgy guide explains the service at the center of the night.

What we can say confidently

  • The core of the week (Bethany, branches, the Passion readings, a Paschal vigil with baptism) is attested in early Jerusalem and Constantinople.
  • The Holy Saturday Liturgy of St. Basil was once the Paschal baptismal vigil.
  • The Paschal Homily has been read at the vigil since at least the ninth century.
  • Bright Week is kept as one feast without fasting.

What remains disputed or varies

  • Whether St. John Chrysostom wrote the Paschal Homily.
  • Whether Holy Unction is served on Holy Wednesday.
  • Greek customs such as the Bridegroom and crucifix processions, the taking-down from the cross and the shared Paschal light are recent, and some Orthodox liturgists would reform them.
  • Willows or palms, the Thursday flame, laurel leaves, basket blessings, red eggs, the Friday procession and service times vary between Greek, Slavic, Arabic and other parishes.

Conclusion

Holy Week moves in one direction: from the tomb of Lazarus to the tomb of Christ, and out into the night when the Church sings that he has trampled down death by death. Some customs are young and differ from people to people. The heart of the week is older: the Church hears the Passion, keeps watch at the tomb, and receives the risen Lord at his table. Come on Friday night, stand with a candle, and come back before midnight on Saturday.

Notes

  1. Thomas Hopko, The Orthodox Faith, vol. 2, Worship, "Holy Friday" (Orthodox Church in America), https://www.oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/worship/the-church-year/holy-friday; on Holy Saturday Matins, see Hopko, "Holy Saturday" (note 17). Back
  2. Pavlos Koumarianos, "Liturgical Problems of Holy Week," St Vladimir's Theological Quarterly 46, no. 1 (2002): 3-21, https://www.trinityorthodox.ca/sites/default/files/Koumarianos%20-%20Liturgical%20Problems%20of%20Holy%20Week.pdf. Quoted at 9. Koumarianos writes chiefly about Greek usage. Back
  3. Egeria, The Pilgrimage of Etheria, trans. M. L. McClure and C. L. Feltoe (London: SPCK, 1919), 63-67, https://archive.org/details/pilgrimageofethe00mccliala. Back
  4. See note 2 (Koumarianos), 6-9. Back
  5. Hopko, The Orthodox Faith, vol. 2, "Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday," https://www.oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/worship/the-church-year/lazarus-saturday-and-palm-sunday. Back
  6. See note 5 (Hopko, "Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday"). John 12:13 is quoted from the NKJV. Back
  7. Hopko, The Orthodox Faith, vol. 2, "Holy Week," https://www.oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/worship/the-church-year/holy-week. Matthew 25:6 is quoted from the New King James Version. Back
  8. Alexander Schmemann, Holy Week: A Liturgical Explanation for the Days of Holy Week, section 3, "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: The End," as published by the Orthodox Church in America under "Great and Holy Tuesday," https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2026/04/07/22-great-and-holy-tuesday. Back
  9. See note 2 (Koumarianos), 10. Back
  10. Peter Orfanakos, "Holy Wednesday. The Service of Holy Unction," OrthoChristian.com, April 15, 2014, https://orthochristian.com/69891.html. Back
  11. See note 2 (Koumarianos), 10, 14, 16. Back
  12. Hopko, The Orthodox Faith, vol. 2, "Holy Thursday," https://www.oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/worship/the-church-year/holy-thursday. Back
  13. See note 1 (Hopko, "Holy Friday"). Back
  14. Natalya Mihailova, "The Holy Thursday Fire," interview with Igumen Pakhomy (Bruskov), Pravmir, April 17, 2014, https://www.pravmir.com/holy-thursday-fire/. Back
  15. See note 2 (Koumarianos), 5-6, 10. Back
  16. See note 1 (Hopko, "Holy Friday"). On the name and morning time of the royal hours, see Koumarianos (note 2), 10. Back
  17. Hopko, The Orthodox Faith, vol. 2, "Holy Saturday," https://www.oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/worship/the-church-year/holy-saturday. Back
  18. See note 2 (Koumarianos), 10-11. Back
  19. See note 17 (Hopko, "Holy Saturday"). On the Greek epitaphios as a canopied bier and its procession, see Koumarianos (note 2), 6 n. 8 and 10-11. Back
  20. See note 17 (Hopko, "Holy Saturday"). On the morning celebration, see Koumarianos (note 2), 14. Back
  21. See note 2 (Koumarianos), 6-7, citing Juan Mateos's edition of the tenth-century Typikon of the Great Church. Hopko, "Holy Saturday," also writes: "Originally this Liturgy was the Easter baptismal liturgy of Christians." Back
  22. John Jillions, "Chancellor's Diary: March 12, 2014," Orthodox Church in America, https://www.oca.org/reflections/fr.-john-jillions/march-12-2014. Back
  23. See note 17 (Hopko, "Holy Saturday"). Psalm 82:8 is quoted from the NKJV. Back
  24. See note 2 (Koumarianos), 14-15. Back
  25. Orthodox Church in America, Questions & Answers, "Red Easter Eggs," https://www.oca.org/questions/liturgicalyear/red-easter-eggs. Back
  26. Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada, Liturgical Commission, Blessing and Sanctification of Paschal Baskets (Holy Saturday) (2024), foreword, https://www.uocc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Blessing-of-Paschal-Baskets-Holy-Saturday.pdf. Back
  27. Hopko, The Orthodox Faith, vol. 2, "Easter Sunday: The Holy Pascha," https://www.oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/worship/the-church-year/easter-sunday-the-holy-pascha. Back
  28. See note 2 (Koumarianos), 5-6. Back
  29. See note 27 (Hopko, "Easter Sunday"). Back
  30. Orthodox Church in America, "Paschal Greetings from Around the World," https://www.oca.org/orthodoxy/paschal-greetings. Back
  31. "The Paschal Sermon" (the Catechetical Sermon of St. John Chrysostom), Orthodox Church in America translation, https://www.oca.org/fs/sermons/the-paschal-sermon. Back
  32. See note 27 (Hopko, "Easter Sunday"). On the homily's place in Greek usage (at the end of the Liturgy, where the manuscripts and early printed books had it before the Liturgy or before Communion), see Koumarianos (note 2), 17. Back
  33. Mark Patrick Huggins, "Reception of John Chrysostom in the Middle Byzantine Period (9th-13th Centuries): A Study of the Catechetical Homily on Pascha (CPG 4605)" (PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2021), abstract, https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/38102. Koumarianos (note 2), 17, likewise says the homily "is not by John Chrysostom." Back
  34. See note 27 (Hopko, "Easter Sunday"). Back
  35. Fr. George (St. Andrew Greek Orthodox Church), "Diakainisimos or Bright Week: Week Following Pascha," OrthoChristian.com, April 14, 2015, https://orthochristian.com/78768.html. Back
  36. Council in Trullo, Canon 66, trans. Henry R. Percival, NPNF2 vol. 14, https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3814.htm. Back
  37. See note 35 (Fr. George). Back
  38. See note 25 (OCA, "Red Easter Eggs"). Back
  39. See note 2 (Koumarianos), 10-15. Back
  40. See note 17 (Hopko, "Holy Saturday"). Back
  41. See note 7 (Hopko, "Holy Week"). Back

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Council in Trullo. Canons. Trans. Henry R. Percival. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, vol. 14. Ed. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1900. Online at New Advent.
  • Egeria. The Pilgrimage of Etheria. Trans. M. L. McClure and C. L. Feltoe. London: SPCK, 1919.
  • John Chrysostom (attributed). "The Paschal Sermon." Orthodox Church in America translation, online.
  • The Holy Bible, New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

Orthodox sources

  • George, Fr. (St. Andrew Greek Orthodox Church). "Diakainisimos or Bright Week: Week Following Pascha." OrthoChristian.com, 2015.
  • Hopko, Thomas. The Orthodox Faith, vol. 2, Worship: "The Church Year" (Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday; Holy Week; Holy Thursday; Holy Friday; Holy Saturday; Easter Sunday: The Holy Pascha). Orthodox Church in America, online edition.
  • Jillions, John. "Chancellor's Diary: March 12, 2014." Orthodox Church in America.
  • Mihailova, Natalya. "The Holy Thursday Fire" (interview with Igumen Pakhomy (Bruskov)). Pravmir, 2014.
  • Orfanakos, Peter. "Holy Wednesday. The Service of Holy Unction." OrthoChristian.com, 2014.
  • Orthodox Church in America. "Paschal Greetings from Around the World."
  • Orthodox Church in America. Questions & Answers: "Red Easter Eggs."
  • Schmemann, Alexander. Holy Week: A Liturgical Explanation for the Days of Holy Week, section 3, as published on the Orthodox Church in America website.
  • Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada, Liturgical Commission. Blessing and Sanctification of Paschal Baskets (Holy Saturday). 2024.

Other scholarship

  • Huggins, Mark Patrick. "Reception of John Chrysostom in the Middle Byzantine Period (9th-13th Centuries): A Study of the Catechetical Homily on Pascha (CPG 4605)." PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2021.
  • Koumarianos, Pavlos. "Liturgical Problems of Holy Week." St Vladimir's Theological Quarterly 46, no. 1 (2002): 3-21.

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