---
title: "Pascha — the Bright Resurrection of Christ — Church history"
description: "Meaning, history and worship of the chief Christian feast. The Orthodox Church calendar, icons, prayers, lives of saints and Church history on spas.life."
url: "https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/history/feast-pascha"
language: "en"
---

Feasts

# Pascha — the Bright Resurrection of Christ

Meaning, history and worship of the chief Christian feast.

## Contents

1. [Meaning](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/history/feast-pascha#s1)
2. [The date](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/history/feast-pascha#s2)
3. [Worship](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/history/feast-pascha#s3)

## Meaning

Pascha is the remembrance and experience of Christ's Resurrection, the victory over death. The Apostle Paul: “if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14). Pascha is not counted among the Twelve Great Feasts but stands above them as the “Feast of Feasts”.

## The date

Pascha is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon falling on or after the spring equinox, by the Alexandrian paschalion on the Julian calendar; hence Orthodox Pascha often differs from Western Easter.

## Worship

The night service begins with a procession and the proclamation “Christ is risen!” Bright Week is fast-free; until Ascension Christians greet one another with the paschal greeting. The paschal season ends with the leave-taking on the eve of Ascension.

## Related

- [Pascha. The Bright Resurrection of Christ](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/history/feast-pascha)
- [Paschal Troparion](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/prayers/troparion-pascha)
- [Paschalion](https://spas.life/en/orthodoxy/history/glossary#glossary-paschalion)