The Paschal greeting, also known as the Easter Acclamation, is an

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

custom among

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

Oriental Orthodox The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 60 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches are part of the Nicene Christian tradition, and represent o ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, and

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

Christians. It is also found among some Christians from liturgical

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

denominations, such as certain

Anglicans Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the l ...

and

Lutherans Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

. One is to greet another person with "Christ is risen!" and the response is "He is risen indeed!" with many variants in English and other languages (compare , , , , ). Similar responses are also used in the

liturgies Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...

of other Christian churches, but not so much as general greetings.

Examples

Eastern Orthodox

The greeting and reply are: Christ is Risen! – Truly He is Risen! *In the original language, el, Χριστὸς ἀνέστη! – Ἀληθῶς ἀνέστη! () *In the most widely used language, cu, Хрїсто́съ воскре́се! – Вои́стинꙋ воскре́се! () A list in 57 languages is found at the website of the

Orthodox Church in America The Orthodox Church in America (OCA) is an Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian church based in North America. The OCA is partly recognized as Autocephaly, autocephalous and consists of more than 700 parishes, missions, commun ...

. In some cultures, such as in Russia and Serbia, it is also customary to exchange a triple

kiss of peace The kiss of peace is an ancient traditional Christian greeting, sometimes also called the "holy kiss", "brother kiss" (among men), or "sister kiss" (among women). Such greetings signify a wish and blessing that peace be with the recipient, and bes ...

on the alternating cheeks after the greeting.

Catholic

In the

Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Joh ...

the traditional greeting on Easter morning and throughout the entire Easter week is: ''Christus surréxit! - Surréxit vere, allelúja.'' ("Christ is risen" - "He is risen indeed. Alleluia!"). This ancient phrase echoes the greeting of the angel to

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cru ...

, to Mary the mother of James, and to Joseph, as they arrived at the sepulchre to anoint the body of Jesus: "He is not here; for he has risen, as he said" (Matt 28:6). It is used among Catholics when meeting one another during Eastertide; some even answer their telephones with the phrase.

References

External links

The Origin and Meaning of the Paschal Greeting
Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Washington, DC. {{DEFAULTSORT:Paschal Greeting Eastern Orthodox liturgy Easter liturgy Christian terminology Greeting words and phrases