The Paschal troparion or ''Christos anesti'' (Greek: Χριστός ἀνέστη) is the characteristic

troparion A troparion (Greek , plural: , ; Georgian: , ; Church Slavonic: , ) in Byzantine music and in the religious music of Eastern Orthodox Christianity is a short hymn of one stanza, or organised in more complex forms as series of stanzas. The wi ...

for the celebration of Pascha (Easter) in the

Byzantine Rite The Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite or the Rite of Constantinople, identifies the wide range of cultural, liturgical, and canonical practices that developed in the Eastern Christian Church of Constantinople. The canonical hours a ...

. Like most troparia, it is a brief stanza often used as a refrain between the verses of a

psalm The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...

, but is also used on its own. It is sung in the first plagal (or fifth) tone. Its author or date is unknown.

Text

The first line paraphrases from

1 Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-au ...

15:20 (Νυνὶ δὲ Χριστὸς ἐγήγερται ἐκ νεκρῶν).Derek Krueger, "The transmission of liturgical joy in Byzantine hymns for Easter", in: Bitton-Ashkelony and Krueger (eds.) ''Prayer and Worship in Eastern Christianities, 5th to 11th Centuries'' (2016), p. 139 and note 41. The troparion is part of the Paschal

Divine Liturgy Divine Liturgy ( grc-gre, Θεία Λειτουργία, Theia Leitourgia) or Holy Liturgy is the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine Rite, developed from the Antiochene Rite of Christian liturgy which is that of the Ecumenical Patriarchate ...

of the Byzantine Rite, and it was certainly in use in the 5th or 6th century. Its ultimate origin is unknown; Metropolitan

Hilarion (Alfeyev) Hilarion (secular name Grigory Valerievich Alfeyev, russian: Григо́рий Вале́риевич Алфе́ев; 24 July 1966) is a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church and the current metropolitan of Budapest and Hungary. He is also a no ...

(2009) has suggested a 2nd-century origin.

Usage

According to the testimony of the Jerusalem tropologion (or ''iadgari'', an ancient hymnography surviving only in a Georgian translation of the 8th century), the troparion was sung at the end of the Easter Vigil in the late ancient Jerusalem Easter liturgy. Based on the ''Typikon of the Great Church'', the troparion was part of the nonmonastic liturgy at the

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...

by the 10th century. In Finland, the

Orthodox Church of Finland The Orthodox Church of Finland ( fi, Suomen ortodoksinen kirkko, lit=Finnish Orthodox Church; sv, Ortodoxa kyrkan i Finland, lit=Orthodox Church in Finland; ) is an autonomous Eastern Orthodox archdiocese of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Consta ...

is a minority church. However, the Orthodox Easter night has, for many decades, been broadcast annually on radio and television, and thus the troparion has gradually become well known to non-Orthodox Finns. In 1986, the

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland ( fi, Suomen evankelis-luterilainen kirkko; sv, Evangelisk-lutherska kyrkan i Finland) is a national church of Finland. It is part of the Lutheran branch of Christianity. The church has a legal positi ...

—the largest religious denomination in the country—included the troparion in its revised official

hymn book A hymnal or hymnary is a collection of hymns, usually in the form of a book, called a hymnbook (or hymn book). Hymnals are used in congregational singing. A hymnal may contain only hymn texts (normal for most hymnals for most centuries of Chr ...

, where it is hymn number 90, as an Easter hymn. It is recommended to be sung three times in succession.

References

External links

Paschal Troparion - Christ is Risen in English and Slavonic and Greek English transliteration

Paschal Troparion in transliteration

Orthodox Church of America Pascha Music Downloads

Paschal Troparion in Four Languages with music
{{Easter Genres of Byzantine music Easter liturgy Byzantine music Eastern Christian hymns Texts in Koine Greek Byzantine Rite