Easter in Russia, 2009

Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed!
Easter has been celebrated again this year in Russia and we wanted to give you a peek at the some of what we enjoy here at this time of year. Below is a picture taken at the central outdoor market. At this time of year there are many vendors selling plastic flowers and wreaths. These are sold primarily to place on the gravesites of family members on Easter day. This quite a big event and many people take buses to the cemeteries to observe this custom.

One custom that is observed here, as it is in the states, is the decorating of eggs. In the market many vendors set up booths to sell a wide variety of decorating products. One of our favorites is the shrink wraps that are very colorful and often very beautiful. They range over a wide area of subjects with some being very Orthodox in flavor to those which have flowers, animals or fairy tales as themes. Another custom here is the special decorated sweet bread (kulich). Below is a picture of our kulich with some decorated eggs.

Here is one of the eggs a bit closer …..

Of course we have special church services at Easter here. We attended a Thursday evening “Last Supper” service where we took communion. A special 3 hour service was held on Saturday night before Easter morning. In this service there are several speakers each covering events beginning with Jesus’ arrest in the garden, through his trial, his crucifixion, and, with proper timing, the pastor of the church at midnight proclaims “Christ is risen” with the congregation responding “He is risen indeed!” On Sunday our service began at noon and afterward we had an Easter gathering of our fellow missionaries here in Tambov. There are only 5 of us here at present so we enjoyed a meal and wonderful afternoon of fellowship.

We’ve included a video of some of the special music at church during the Saturday night and Sunday services. I hope that it gives you a bit of a taste of Russian worship music and how much of a blessing the music is to Barbara and me. Listen for the recurring phrase – Христос воскрес! Войстину воскрес! – Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!