Attending Our Very First 11 p.m Orthodox Easter Service , Thessaloniki, Greece

After visiting the famous castle in Thessaloniki, we went back to our hotel and rested a little to get ready for the big Orthodox Easter service this evening at 11 p.m.( Saturday evening) Knowing that there would be a huge crowd at the church tonite at 11p.m., we called a taxi and arrived at the St. Dimetrious Church about 10:30p.m. People were arriving and we were able to get seats as we were a bit early. I noticed that upon arrival at the church, many congregants each carrying with them a candle in their hands.

  They approached the altar, bowed, or prayed in front of the picture of Jesus and then kissed the picture. I thought once when the service started, people would stop going up to the front of the church to pay tribute to the icon. The service started on time right at 11 p.m. with the priests dressed in their priestly robes, standing up at the front of the church and started chanting. There might be an opening prayer, but we didn’t understand what they were saying, therefore not sure what they said.

People were still going up to the front , paused in front of the picture and prayed briefly. In fact the line of people waiting for their turn to do it grew longer as there were more people entering the church since the service started at 11p.m. There were no seat in the house and many more people had to stand and large number of people were standing outside. While the priests were chanting, we mediated, prayed and thank God for Jesus , grateful for his suffering, death and resurrection so that we could have an eternal life. I didn’t find it boring at all though I didn’t understand a word as we were doing our own worship.

The chanting went on for sometime. There was no singing of hymns by the congregation or any sermon delivered by one of the priests. I closed my eyes and kept praying. Then all of a sudden, I felt darkness descended upon us. I opened my eyes and found that the lights were started to be turned off. The church was dark but people were orderly and quiet.

This went on for about 10 minutes, then more chanting. At about a few minutes to 12a.m. the priests started walking towards the exit of the church and people started lighting their candle and followed suit.

  At 12a.m. we heard firework being set off outside. I really wanted to go outside of the church to see what was happening. But, there were so many people outside as well as inside that there was traffic congestion and difficult for people to move. We waited patiently lining up to go outside and it took about 10 minutes for us to get out.

Lots of people were standing outside the church holding candles while the priests continued their service outside. I couldn’t see what they were doing but they did perform some kind of rituals under Jesus’ picture. Fireworks were set off by neighbors and residents in the surrounding area. People were happy, hugging and taking pictures with each other.

 

  It was a joyful atmosphere, a family affair celebrating Jesus’ resurrection, a great news to mankind!

 

  We were happy that we got to experience an Orthodox Easter in an Orthodox church in Greece, of all the places, in Thessaloniki! Allelujah!

 

  RT, Thessaloniki, Greece p.s. no problem getting a taxi back to our hotel after 12:30a.m.