easter marginalia

Posted on by
  • Today is Easter on the Western calendar; the first Sunday following the first full moon, after the vernal equinox. Happy Easter to you and your family, if you are celebrating today. Every last soul among you is in my heart and in my prayers. Congratulations on a good race, and the completion of your Fast, if you’ve been so inclined. Greetings also to my Jewish friends as they prepare for the coming of Passover.

    Ah, and there’s the rub. Passover hasn’t happened yet. Pascha (Easter) on the Christian liturgical calendar is the first Sabbath following the first full moon after the vernal equinox, provided that the Jewish Passover has passed. As it was at the time of our Lord’s Crucifixion and Resurrection.

    I’m not saying anyone is wrong here; no schismatic, I. I’m just sayin’, for those of us who are Orthodox, it’ll be another month. So save me an egg; preferably red.

  • Today is also special for me, on a much more personal note. From deep in the dark and cedar-scented recesses of my cerebral toy box, this:

    On March 23, 1978, a girl named Carol and I sat in my 1967 Mercury Cougar, at the south end of Ash St. near the beach, and decided to go steady. I was in my mid teens, a junior at Carpinteria High School, and she was my first real girlfriend. We went out for about two years, until she dumped me for a serious bonehead whose name has evaporated in indifference.

    Do I mention this because I still pine? Carry a torch? Harbor resentment? Hardly. Because I’m a romantic? Well, I can be if properly motivated, but no. (Though I’ll admit those two years were mostly pretty fun.) I mention it only because of the irrefutable drama of the interval. Thirty (30 dammit) years. It was 30 years ago today. When things you can almost remember like it was yesterday actually happened decades ago, it makes you feel old.

  • It’s been a beautiful, warm and sunny spring day here in Carp. I walked the dog, had lunch on the patio over at my folks’ place,took a nice long bike ride. Now I’m off to work on the book.

Good night, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are.

4 thoughts on “easter marginalia”

  1. In many parishes, the liturgy is entirely in Slavonic – Old Russian, basically. In my parish – where I have to admit I haven’t been attending lately – it’s mostly Slavonic, but there’s a little English sometimes for us who have converted.

  2. That’s really cool. I’m fascinated with the Orthodox Church. I’ve never been to a service, but I think it’s great.

    By the way, is the service all in Russian?

Comments are closed.