We are His bones and His flesh as the apostle wrote. His Church that He bought (redeemed) with His precious blood. After this, that was the tenth plague, pharaoh allowed them to leave Egypt. Also, after we partake of the Lamb of God we also are freed from the slavery of sin. They continue the celebration to this day as a remembrance of freedom from enslavement. However, the more important symbol of the paschal celebration escapes our Jewish brothers, that is the celebration of salvation from the enslavement of Satan through the precious blood of Christ our Savior.

Christians celebrated the Paschal week since the early days of the Church, since our Lord Jesus Christ celebrated Passover with his disciples, and they in turn celebrated the same with their disciples and so on. Although the celebration and meaning are the same, our blessed Coptic Orthodox Church exceeds all the others in our elaborate celebration. I recommend the Book of Pascha by the Virgin Mary Coptic Orthodox Church, Pasadena, California. It is the most complete compilation of Paschal prayers in English, Coptic, and Arabic. To Appreciate the Paschal Week, we need to understand the meaning of the arrangement, which the Church guided by the Holy Spirit, made. It is a full week celebration Sunday through Sunday, in which we enact the passion (suffering) of Our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ endured for our Salvation. We complete the Paschal Week with the celebration of His Resurrection, victory over death, by death he defeated death, and those who were in the tombs, received the promise of eternal life. Each day of Paschal celebration has two groups of prayers: The Morning Prayers and the Evening Prayers.

Before Pascha:

 One has to recognize the two days before the Paschal Week as part of the process that stats on the first day of lent and is followed with the paschal week.

The End of Lent Friday:

This is absolutely the end of lent, in which the Church celebrates a special celebration, we reached the end of lent and are approaching the Paschal Week. The celebration is an  afternoon liturgy which ends lent and is conducted in the lent tone and using the  Katamaros of Lent (The Book of the Great Fast).

Lazarus Saturday:

The day following the end of lent is Lazarus Saturday. The Church celebrates the miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead after he was buried for 4 days. It is a great miracle and is a strong evidence that Christ is the only begotten son of God. He gave us life, He can take it, and He can bring it back to life. Lazarus lived a long life after he was raised from the dead and was one of the 70 Apostles. In the morning, we celebrate a liturgy. Following Church Calendar, the day starts in the evening. So, that evening is the beginning of Palm Sunday. The evening prayer is in ‘shaaneen’ tone and usually people receive palm tree branches that evening to bring back in to the church in the morning. I remember my grandfather and my father after him weaving the palm tree branches in beautiful shapes that looked like hearts and crosses are interweaved in them. The  symbolism is receiving the kings with branches of olive trees and palm trees as the Jewish nation did when it received Christ as their King who entered Jerusalem. The inner leaves of the branch are white and soft, a symbol of cleanliness and child faith. The outer branches get darker and darker, harder and harder, a symbol of what happens when we get farther away from the source of our salvation.

Palm Sunday:

The day on which Jesus entered Jerusalem on an ass and a colt (baby ass), on the way the multitude spread their garments on the road that He took from beit ania to Jerusalem, and carried branches of olive trees and palm trees hailing him saying “Houssana..” meaning: “Save Us” They were saying what is to be fulfilled through the suffering, crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Christ the Savior. “Save Us, O’ King of Israel. Blessed Is He Who Comes, In the Name of The Lord.” “Ossana khen-ei etshosy, epouro ente en-be-israel. Je- vis maraoot enge-eni ethnio, khen-evran en-bi eb-choice ente ni-goam”, He kicked the merchants out of the temple, telling them “This is a house of prayer and you turned it into a den of thief’s” He also prophesied about Jerusalem and the Jewish nation saying: “Your House will be desolate until you say Blessed Is He Who Came In the Name of the Lord.” The tone of prayer is “Shaaneen” during Palm Sunday. We also read 12 Gospels as we go around the Sanctuary 4 on each side of the Sanctuary: East: 1) Main Altar, 2) St. Mary’s Icon, 3) Arch-angel Gabriel Icon,

North: 4) Arch-angel Michael Icon, 5) St. Mark’s Icon, 6) Apostles’ Icon, 7) the Door to the North West: 8) St. George’s Icon, 9) St. Anthony’s Icon, 10) At The Door to The Wes, South: 11) At the Door to the South, 12) St. John the Baptist’s Icon.

The selection here is worth noting and contemplating:

1. The main altar symbolic of the body and blood of our Lord,

2. St. Mary, the mother of God in truth, is the highest regarded of all creation,

3. Arch-Angel Gabriel is the messenger, who always brings the good news to our race,

4. Arch-Angel Michael is the head of all the heavenly host,

5. St. Mark the Apostle, Evangelist, Martyr, beholder of the divine, and the one who brought the message of the Gospel to our Land,

6. The Apostles, here, are symbolized by an Icon of Peter and Paul, whereas Peter is the

Apostle of the circumcised (Jewish Nation) and Paul the Apostle of the Gentiles, the one who worked more than all of the Apostles to bring the message of salvation to the gentiles (you and me and everyone who was not born a Jew,

7. The stops at the doors of the Church are to fulfill the prayer that the church might prosper and spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to the four corners of the world,

8. St. George in the Coptic Orthodox Church is considered the prince of all martyrs because of his suffering and strength and he was only but a young man who endured suffering at age 18 and endured for seven years to become a martyr at age 25.

9. St. Anthony is the father of all monks, and is being honored here on behalf of all celibates males and females who departed the world because of their love for Christ our King,

10. St. John the Baptist is the greatest man who lived according to Christ, the b aptist and forerunner who prepared the way of the Lord. This is followed with the Sunday Liturgy and all singing is in the “shaaneen” tone. It is the tone of urging and anticipation for the plan of salvation. The hymnal “Evlogimenous” meaning “blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, .. Houssanna (Save Us), .. etc.” Celebrating Christ the King Coming to Save Us, Entering Jerusalem as the King on the Hearts of His people, not on a fancy throne, but on the back of a lowly donkey.. Evlogimenous is song after the epreksees. During the morning prayers, the palm tree branches the people bring with them are blessed, and after the liturgy, the Church is prepared for a week of solemn prayers by changing the drapes from the normal color to the black color, sign of mourning. We mourn our sins, which caused the only begotten son (‘Omonogeneese’) to suffer and die.

The blessing of Palm Branches is in the morning, the sprinkling of water after the Liturgy is for the blessing of the congregation. As we read the 12 Gospels, it is good if the Icons in the Church are arranged according to the arrangement in the readings, they then do a general funeral service prayer for all those who will depart during the Paschal Week. Because there will be no funeral service if any one departs during Paschal Week. So, if anyone departs during the Paschal Week, they bring the body to the Church and the people celebrate the paschal service only. And following the funeral service, is the first Pascha (Morning or Days Pascha for Sunday). The people go home and come back in the evening for the evening Pascha.

Another observation, the Church prayer day is from evening to evening. For that reason the second paschal service is the evening of Monday (the following day), etc.

Paschal Monday

Evening and Morning Pascha as explained above, Christ spent this whole day in Jerusalem and in the evening He returned to Bethany “Beet Annia” the village of Lazarus and his sisters, where He told the disciples that he will suffer and will be crucified and die and on the third day, He will rise again! On this day He also cursed the fig tree because it was full of leaves but had no fruits, symbolic of the Jewish nation.

Paschal Tuesday

He returned to Jerusalem, His disciples were surprised to see the fig tree has weathered away completely. He told them about the parable of the prodigal son, the bad husbandmen(vineyards’ men), and he told about the destruction of Jerusalem, and the end of the world and His second coming.