Paschal Vespers 2008 - 04/27/08
Late on Pascha morning, the church was filled to near capacity with a sea of children (and those who brought them) for the celebration of the Paschal Vespers (sometimes also called the Agape Service).
Following the Orthodox Christian practice of reading the Gospel lesson in multiple languages, we were graced with three – Albanian (Nardi Tollkuchi), English (Father Sergei), and this year, Russian (John Gilbert).
At the conclusion of this festive service, the children were treated to an egg hunt – a tradition that encourages the children not only to celebrate the joy of the season, but also asks them to share it, just like they do in the distribution of their collected eggs: those, whose collection is plentiful, share with those whose was more meager.