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The Presidential Library’s collections spotlight the history of Easter and Easter traditions
This year, on April 16, Orthodox Christians celebrate their most important and solemn holiday - Easter. Rare materials from the Presidential Library’s collections illustrate the origins of the holiday, its features and traditions.
The Bible says that Jesus Christ and his disciples came to Jerusalem on the eve of the Jewish Easter The question arises why in Christianity Easter is now associated with its resurrection. The answer to this question is given by the historian Alexander Tereshchenko in the book The Life of the Russian People (1848). He writes that in the Old Testament church, Easter (from the Hebrew word Pesach) means "detour" as a reminder that the angel, who killed the Egyptian firstborn in one night, bypassed the houses of Israel. The extermination of the firstborn forced Pharaoh Ramses to release the Jews from slavery under the leadership of Moses to their "promised land", Palestine.
In the New Testament church, Easter is Christ himself, says the historian. According to the gospels, on the eve of the Jewish Passover, celebrated on Saturday, Christ was crucified on a cross set on Mount Calvary. The disciples buried him in a nearby cave. On the night from Saturday to Sunday, Mary Magdalene and other women came to this cave in order, according to the funeral rite, to anoint the body of their teacher with incense. Arriving there, they saw that a huge stone had been moved from the entrance to the cave, the guards fled in fear, and there was no one in the tomb itself. Then two angels appeared to them and told about the divine Resurrection of Christ. Christians believe that Jesus accepted suffering for the salvation of mankind.
In memory of this event, on the feast of the Resurrection of Christ, the annunciation is announced at midnight, lights and candles are lit everywhere in churches. “The clergy put on bright robes and ‘Christ is Risen’ ascends joyfully everywhere”, - says the book The Life of the Russian People.
As described 200 years ago in the book mentioned above, so now the greeting and “christening” on this day begins in the altar of the temple between the clergy. Then they come out with a cross, the Gospel and icons and stand in one row in front of the royal doors facing the people. The clergy greet the parishioners of the temple: "Christ is Risen!". The parishioners answer: “Truly He is Risen!”.
At first, there was no specific day for celebrating Easter, and since it coincided with the Jewish one, it was decided to celebrate it on the next Sunday after the Jewish Easter or after the first spring full moon. Such a celebration of Easter was established by the Nicene Council of the clergy during the time of the ruler of the Roman state, Constantine the Great (323).
Easter never comes before March 22 (April 4) or later than April 25 (May 8). The calculation of this day, for example, is described in the book Russian Manual Paschalia (1836) by priest Ivan Skvortsov and in a special edition The Easiest Guide... (1842). It also contains tables of "Easter circles" necessary for checking chronicles and other ancient Russian written monuments.
An invariable attribute of the Easter treats are painted eggs and Easter cakes. In St. Petersburg, Moscow and in the northern part of Russia, Easter food is made of cottage cheese, crosses or other sacred images. In the south of Russia, Easter is made from bread - what is called Easter here is called Easter cake (kulich) in the north.
The custom of painting eggs for Easter has deep roots in history. Tereshchenko writes that in Persia, on the celebration of the new solar year, March 20, the inhabitants greeted each other, treating them to eggs painted in different colors. The Jewish people in ancient times had a custom at the beginning of the new year to serve colored eggs to the table and present them to their benefactors. According to the author, the naturalist Pliny says that the Romans used colored eggs when performing rituals and cleansing from sins, and Plutarch explains this custom as follows: “The egg represents the Creator of all nature, omnipotent and containing everything in itself”.
The book About the Beginning of the Habit of Eating Red Eggs at Easter (1826) says that the tradition of how the giving of eggs among Christians began has been preserved in Greece. Upon the ascension of our Savior to heaven, the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene, having come to Rome to preach the Gospel, appeared before the emperor Tiberius, offered him a red egg, and, saying “Christ is risen,” began her sermon before him. Tiberius, having heard from her for the first time about the execution of Jesus, called Pontius Pilate to court. “The leading Christians, knowing from tradition about this simple-hearted offering of the Holy Magdalene, began to imitate him and, at the remembrance of the Resurrection of Christ, gave each other red eggs. <...> This rite, although unimportant in itself, shows Christian simplicity and serves as a sign of common Christian joy at the solemn remembrance of the victory over death, acquired by the death of the Savior on the Cross and revealed in His glorious Resurrection”.
Easter days for Christians is an occasion to visit the temple, strengthen in the faith, with special joy to meet with loved ones. Archpriest Yevgeny Akvilonov in the pamphlet The Resurrection of Christ - the Greatest Triumph of the Moral World Order (1910) writes that it is impossible not to believe in the unconditional superiority of the moral law over everything, the only source of which is the risen Christ.
Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:
Пасхальное яичко отъ Дорогаго Батюшки о. Iоанна Кронштадтскаго.
Терещенко А. В. Быт русского народа. В 7 т. 1848.
Аквилонов Е. П. Воскресение Христово – величайшее торжество нравственного миропорядка, 1910.
Воронец Е. Н. Воскресение Христово в современных иконописных изображениях, 1889.
Скворцов И. М. Русская ручная пасхалия, 1836.
О начале обыкновения употреблять красные яйца во время пасхи