The Katavasiai – The Canon
The 1st Ode. 1st Tone
It is the Day of Resurrection! O people, let us glory in splendor! Pascha, the Lord’s Pascha! For Christ our God has transported us who sing the triumphal hymn from death to life, and from earth to Heaven.
The 3rd Ode
Come, let us drink a new drink. Not one miraculously brought forth from a barren rock, but from the fountain of immortality, sprung forth from Christ’s Tomb, from which we are edified.
The 4th Ode
Let the God-inspired Prophet Habakkuk keep with us the divine watch, and point out the light-bearing Angel, who with a vibrant voice declared: “Today, salvation comes to the world, for Christ has risen as Almighty.”
The 5th Ode
Let us arise in the early dawn, and instead of myrrh, offer a hymn to the Master; and we shall see Christ, the Sun of Righteousness dawning life to all.
The 6th Ode
You descended into the deepest parts of the earth, and You shattered everlasting bars, which held fast, those fettered; and on the third day, like Jonah from the whale You arose from the Tomb.
The Kontakion
Even though You descended into the grave, O Immortal One, You destroyed the power of Hades; and You arose as a victor, O Christ our God, saying to the myrrh-bearing Women, “Hail!” and to Your Apostles granting peace; You also grant resurrection to the fallen.
The Oikos
The Myrrh-bearing maidens anticipated the dawn, and sought as those who seek the day, their Sun, Who was before the sun, and Who now had set in the Grave. They cried to each other, “Come, let us anoint with spices His Life-bearing and entombed Body, raising the fallen Adam lying in the tomb. Let us go, hastily like the Magi, let us worship, and bring myrrh as a gift to Him, Who is wrapped now not in swaddling bands, but in a sheet. Let us weep and cry aloud, ‘O Master, arise! You, Who grants to the fallen resurrection’.”
The Resurrection Ode
Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ, let us worship the Holy Lord Jesus, Who alone is without sin. We venerate Your Cross, O Christ, and we praise and glorify Your Holy Resurrection. For You are our God, and we know no other, except You, and we call on Your Name. Come, all you faithful, let us worship Christ’s Holy Resurrection; for lo, through the Cross, joy has come to the whole world. For, at all times, blessing the Lord, we praise His Resurrection. Having endured the Cross for us, He destroyed Death by death.
Having risen from the grave, as He foretold, He has given us Eternal Life and the Great Mercy.
The 7th Ode
The only blessed and ever-glorious God of our fathers, Who redeemed the Children from the furnace, became man, suffers as a mortal; and through suffering, He clothes the mortal with the grace of incorruption.
The 8th Ode
We praise, we bless, and we worship the Lord.
This is the chosen and Holy Day, the first of the Sabbaths, the Queen and Sovereign, the Feast of Feasts, and the Festival of Festivals, in which we bless Christ to all Ages.