The Holy Easter Eve Mass and Easter Feast were splendidly held in Izmir St. John’s Cathedral.
On Saturday evening, while the Easter eve was led by the Archbishop of Izmir; Monsignor Martin Kmetec, Metropolitan of the Izmir Greek Orthodox Church Bartolomeo Samaras and his deacon Andrew attended the first part. Father Ugo De Rosa, Rector of St. John’s Cathedral, and Father Pascal Robert, Priest of the Church of the Holy Name of Mary in Bornova, also accompanied the ceremony.
Easter Eve was traditionally done with four basic phases. First there was the light ceremony at the Cathedral’s gate, which included the consecration of the fire and the preparation of the Easter candle. Monsignor Martin, after explaining the meaning of Eve, consecrated fire and drew a cross on the Easter candle, inscribed the letter Alpha on it, the letter Omega on the bottom, and the date of the year around it. Then he lit the Easter candle with fire, and after the priests lit the candles of the congregation, the walk to the altar first began with Father Ugo holding the candle, and the church was gradually lit.
The ‘Praeconium Paschale’ (Easter Praise) hymn was sung in Latin for about ten minutes by the Cathedral’s Choir Conductor, Ozan Karagöz. The second part was followed by a Bible reading. Readings began with words from the Book of Genesis, continued with words from the Book of Exodus, the book of the Prophet Ezekiel, and St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Then Father Ugo read words from the Gospel of Christ, written by St. Mark.
After Monsignor Martin’s Turkish sermon and Father Pascal’s English sermon, the third part was the blessing of baptismal water. After singing the hymn “Invocation to the Saints” by the choir conductor Ozan Karagöz, Msgr. Martin blessed the baptismal water and the Easter candle was dipped in the water. Then the renewal of the baptismal vows was made with the whole congregation.
He then relit the Easter candle with fire, and after lighting the congregation’s candles again, Monsignor Martin blessed everyone. With the Celebration of the Eucharist, the fourth part of the eve is finished.
The next day, the Easter Feast was re-administered in different languages and by Monsignor Martin in St. John’s Cathedral which was full of participants.
After the Archbishop had blessed all the attendees and the words from the book of John were read and the Easter Ceremony was over, everyone gathered in the Cathedral courtyard and the refreshments were shared.
Under the direction of Ozan Karagöz, the Cathedral’s choir, organ player Şerkan Şahin, and the Cathedral’s attendant Mesut Kalaycı enlivened these magnificent Rites with their hymns in Turkish, English and Latin.
(SAT-7 TURK/İZMİR-Nathalie Ritzmann)
