HOME
IN HOC
SIGNO VINCES
EASTER VIGIL
Feast of the Ressurrection
 SEARCH & CONTENTS
TIME DEUM ET
OPERARE IUSTITIAM

The Easter Vigil is as old as the Church. It was the highest Holy Day of the Church. It was a time for the Church to welcome in new members through the sacrament of Baptism. Tertullian wrote of the Easter Vigil in 192AD. In 198 a council meeting in Caesurae decided that all churches should observe Easter on Sunday, and the Crucifixion on Friday.

ASSEMBLY:


Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing choirs of angels!
Exult, all creation around God's throne!
Jesus Christ, our King is risen!
Sound the trumpet of salvation!

Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendor,
radiant in the brightness of your King!
Christ has conquered! Glory fills you!
Darkness vanishes forever!

Rejoice, O Mother Church! Exult in glory!
The risen Savior shines upon you!
Let this place resound with joy,
echoing the mighty song of all God's people!

My dearest friends,
standing with me in this holy light,
join me in asking God for mercy,
that he may give his unworthy minister
grace to sing his Easter praises.

Deacon sings The Lord be with you.
People sing And also with you.
Deacon sings Lift up your hearts.
People sing We lift them up to the Lord.
Deacon sings Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
People singIt is right to give him thanks and praise.

Deacon It is truly right that with full hearts and minds and voices
we should praise the unseen God, the all-powerful Father,
and his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
For Christ has ransomed us with his blood,
and paid for us the price of Adam's sin to our eternal Father!

This is our Passover feast,
When Christ, the true Lamb, is slain,
whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.

People This is the night,
when first you saved our fathers:
you freed the people of Israel from their slav'ry,
and led them dry-shod through the sea.

Deacon This is the night,
when the pillar of fire destroyed the darkness of sin.

People This is the night,
when Christians ev'rywhere,
washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement,
are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.

Deacon This is the night,
when Jesus broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the grave.

People What good would life have been to us,
had Christ not come as our Redeemer?

Deacon Father, how wonderful your care for us!
How boundless your merciful love!
To ransom a slave you gave away your Son.

People O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam,
which gained for us so great a Redeemer!

Deacon Most blessed of all nights,
chosen by God to see Christ rising from the dead!

People Of this night scripture says:
"The night will be as clear as day:
it will become my light, my joy."

Deacon The power of this holy night dispels all evil,
washes guilt away, restores lost innocence,
brings mourners joy;
it casts out hatred, brings us peace,
and humbles earthly pride.

People Night truly blessed,
when heaven is wedded to earth
and we are reconciled to God!

Deacon
Therefore, heavenly Father, in the joy of this night,
receive our evening sacrifice of praise,
your Church's solemn offering.

Accept this Easter candle,
a flame divided but undimmed,
a pillar of fire that glows to the honor of God.

Let it mingle with the lights of heaven
and continue bravely burning
to dispel the darkness of this night!

May the Morning Star which never sets
find this flame still burning:
Christ, that Morning Star,
who came back from the dead,
and shed his peaceful light on all mankind,
your Son, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

Hear the Exsultet Sung

THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES:

The BAPTISM follows

The other candles in the Chapel are lighted from the Pascal Candle, then

Presbyter Alleluia. Christ is risen
People The Lord is risen indeed

All sing or say the Gloria in Excelsis
GLORY be to God on high, and on earth peace, good will towards men. We praise you, we bless you, we worship you, we glorify you, we give thanks to you for your great glory, O Lord God, heavenly King, God the Father Almighty.
O Lord, the only begotten Son, Jesus Christ; O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. You who take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer. You who sit at the right hand of God the Father, have mercy upon us.
For you only are holy; you only are the Lord; you only, O Christ, with the Holy Spirit, are most high in glory of God the Father. Amen.

Minister The Lord be with you
People And also with you
Minister Let us pray.

Almighty God, who through your only-begotten son Jesus Christ has overcome death and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life; we humbly beseech that you put into our minds good desires, and by your continual help may we may bring the same to good effect; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

The COMMUNION

Proper preface But chiefly are we bound to praise you for the glorious Resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord: for he is the very Paschal Lamb, which was offered for us, and has taken away the sin of the world; who by his death hath destroyed death, and, by his rising to life again, has restored to us ever-lasting life. Therefore with Angels, &c.

1 Cor 6b-8 Do you not know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch, as you really are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Mark 16: 1-8
When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb? When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you. So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

HOME

Copyright 2003 The Order of the Centurions | OrderofCenturion.org | Portions of Litury based on the 1798 American Book of Common Prayer, NRSV, | Exultant - www.op.org/domcentral/life/exsultet.htm 12:37 PM 10:25 AM 6/2/2006 Tidy