Christ is Risen!

Here are some photos from our Saturday night Resurrection service. Above are the chanters just before 11:00 PM, when we started Orthros.

Around 11:45 PM, all the lights in the church are extinguished and the doors to the altar are closed, as the faithful await the invitation to "Come receive the Light," which is the Holy Light (or Holy Fire) from Christ's tomb in Jerusalem. (It was brought to Volos by airplane, and reached our church around 10:15 PM.) As you can see, the Greeks are waiting to attack.

The priest only has time to slide back the door (or curtain), but usually leaves the beautiful gates closed to protect himself from the onslaught.

We then processed out to the platform in the church's courtyard, just in front of our house. There, I read the Easter message from the bishop, and then the Gospel. Finally, we chanted "Christ is risen!" and the crowd exploded. Fireworks were going off down in Volos and everywhere else.

Chanting the resurrectional verses and censing. You can see my office and the house behind us.

The kids all stayed up until the end of Liturgy and communed.

Afterwards, we (well, I) broke the fast with some traditional goat's head soup, prepared for us by a kind women from the village. You can see two heads floating in this one. I tried to convince the kids to try it, but surprisingly they weren't interested.  :)

For more photos, click here.