Soorp Zadeeg:  The Holy Passover of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ  -from death unto Life!

"For also Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us; therefore let us be keeping festival"
-St.Paul's 1st Epistle to the Corithian Church, 5:9
Awake O sleeper, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light
   The ancient Orthodox and Catholic Churches celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for a total of forty days in honor of the forty days He remained on earth teaching His chosen Apostles.  After forty days of spiritual preparation (The Great Fast) and then a week of meditation upon our Lord's last days leading up to His Crucifixion (Great Week), our Lord's Resurrection is regarded as the Festival of festivals and far too significant to be celebrated by only one day.
    The English word Easter, according to the Modern Catholic Dictionary, comes from the Anglo-Saxon Eastre, the name of the Teutonic goddess of dawn and spring.  When the Germanic peoples became Christian, they retained the use of this title of the pre-Christian, pagan spring festival because the festival of the Resurrection coincided with it.  Since the Greek, Armenian and Latin Churches pre-date Christianity's spread to Anglo-Saxon lands, they employ the primitive title of the feast, Pascha, which comes from the Aramaic word for Passover.  In the New Testament the Greek word Pascha is rendered into Armenian by the word Zadeeg (cf. 1 Cor 5:7).
    The Orthodox Study Bible explains, "Originally Pascha designated the Jewish Passover: now, it is the Feast of the Resurrection of Christ.  Christ is the Lamb of God whose sacrifice delivers the faithful from death, as the sacrifice of the passover lamb delivered the ancient Jews from slavery and death in Egypt (Ex. 12; 13; 1 Cor. 5:7, 8)."  Thus, the  Passover remains a Christian theme of observance (Catechism of the Catholic Church # 1170).
    Our family wanted to take a moment to pass on to you these following messages announcing the triumph of our Lord over Death and to wish you all a very Holy Easter-Pascha and Soorp Zadeeg!
    What follows are Paschal Greetings, ancient Christian homilies and hymns, and other documents which illuminate the ancient Christian understanding of Christ's Resurrection as the ultimate and final Passover.

Have a Happy Easter-Pascha and a Holy Christian Passover,
from the Der-Ghazarian Family
"Christ is Risen from the dead, trampling down Death by death
and upon those in the tombs, bestowing Life!"
~  Paschal Greetings in many of the world's languages

~  "Christ's Harrowing of Hell": an ancient Christian Sermon

~  "The Lamb that was Slain has delivered us from Death"
   by Saint Melitos of Sardis (2nd century)

~  "The Weakness of God is Stronger than Men"
   Resurrection Homily by Saint John Chrysostom (5th c.)

~  The Paschal Homily of Saint John Chrysostom

~  Hymn on the Resurrection of our Lord, by the Armenian
   Catholicos Saint Nersess the Grace-filled (12th c.)

~  Orthodox Thoughts on the Resurrection

~  Why did Jesus have to die?
    by Sub-Dn. Lazarus Der-Ghazarian

~  Return to Looys Kreesdosee Home Page
The Icon above shows Christ standing over the broken gates of Hades (depicted as coffin lids in the form
of the Cross), pulling out Adam and Eve.
On Christ's left, Moses, Esaias & Elias look on.  On His right are the Old Testament kings David and Soloman along with the Baptist, St. John the Forerunner.


"Thou didst descend into the tomb, O Immortal.
Thou didst destroy the power of death.
In victory didst Thou arise, O Christ God, proclaiming 'Rejoice' to the myrrh-bearing women, granting peace to Thy Apostles, and bestowing resurrection on the fallen."


"This is the Chosen and Holy Day,
the Feast of feasts, Pascha, the Passover
of Our Lord Jesus Christ from death to life!"
"I am the resurrection and the life;
he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die."
-The Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ according to St. John 11:25-26
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