Themes:  Victory over death, praise of our God Who alone does wondrous things, and the universality of the Gospel

Gospel Reading: John 20:19-25

Sometime late on Easter Sunday morning or in the afternoon hours, we celebrate the Vespers of Pascha, also known as the Agape service.  It is a Great Vespers service centered upon the message of Pascha – the risen Jesus Christ.  All the hymns give glory to God for His resurrection from the dead, for freeing us from the curse of the ancient law – death, and for restoring mankind (and indeed the entire world) to its former position – communion and union with God.

This service starts off with a Vespers and then moves into the Liturgy of St. Basil. During the Vespers, a
number of prophecies from the Old Testament are read. After the prophecies, the Divine Liturgy of St.
Basil begins. After the epistle reading, the priest scatters bay leaves around the church as a sign of
Christ’s victory over death. After that, the lesson from the gospel is read and the Liturgy continues as
usual.
 
Theme: Christ’s resurrection
 
Prophecies: Genesis 1:1-13, Jonah, Daniel 3:1-57 (including the Hymn of the Three Youths); Epistle: Romans 6:3-11, Gospel: Matthew 28:1-20
 
All of the hymns during this service are paschal, or resurrectional, in nature. We have eagerly awaited
the moment of His resurrection, and during this service, we get a foretaste of the tremendous joy of
that moment. The odd thing is that this is done so early on Saturday. This is because this Liturgy used to
be a part of a long Paschal vigil that started late in the afternoon and which lasted towards midnight.
Now, however, the service has been pushed back to the morning. So even though the hymns and
Gospel Lesson describe the resurrection, we still have to wait until midnight before we can truly
celebrate it.