An important time for believers is approaching - Easter; according to tradition, before it it is customary to bless Easter cakes and Easter eggs. The right time to visit church and conduct a ceremony will be more than once in 2022. Don't miss the opportunity, prepare for the celebration as correctly as possible and your efforts will not be in vain: the Lord will reward your loved ones and you according to your deserts.
Easter date in 2021
The Feast of the Resurrection of Christ is moving. This is explained by its connection to the solar-lunar calendar. The date is counted from the Jewish Passover. Despite the fact that the name sounds the same, the celebration is not dedicated to the ascension of the Son of God, but to liberation from the yoke of the Egyptians and the exodus from Egypt.
Passover is celebrated at the same time - from Nisan 14 to 21, on the first full moon after the spring equinox. And Christian Easter is exactly a week later, on the coming Sunday. In 2022 it falls on May 2.
Attention!
According to the old style, this day falls from March 22 to April 24, according to the new style - from April 4 to May 8.
Tips to note
- Products blessed in the church should not be thrown away. If you have a lot of treats and you realize that you won’t have time to eat them all, it’s better to give them to friends, acquaintances, or simply people in need.
- Money and other things of material value cannot be blessed in the church.
- It is not necessary to fill the Easter basket to the top. Do not forget that Easter is a holiday of the soul. Do not put food in a chaotic order; treat the contents with respect.
Read our article on how to prepare Easter cake according to the monastery recipe. Do you know the story of why Easter cakes are baked on Easter? Read about this and other traditions in our article.
Read how to prepare Alexandria Easter cake dough according to our recipe.
When to bless Easter cakes and eggs for Easter in 2022
It is advisable to do this on Saturday. The ritual begins in the morning, from 11-12 o'clock, and continues until 20-21 o'clock. Next, the clergy begin preparing for the night service, the time of the sacrament. In some parishes and during it, the priest has time to sprinkle the gifts with Holy water.
In small churches, the ceremony is usually held outside. Worshipers with gifts line up in a circle or line up in the temple courtyard, and the priest comes out and sprinkles the supplies in batches.
Important!
Due to the coronavirus epidemic and the high probability of infection in crowded places, in 2022 it is recommended that clergy of all churches bless gifts on the street.
Those who did not have time to visit church on Saturday are not forbidden to do so on Easter Sunday, but preferably before noon. And if it is absolutely impossible to go to church, Orthodox Christians are allowed to carry out the ceremony with gifts on their own.
Is it possible to sanctify meat?
Many Christians are interested in whether it is possible to put meat products in the basket that will be blessed in the temple.
After all, when the fast ends, eating meat will be allowed. But it must be borne in mind that the Christian religion always opposes killing in general and animals in particular. It is forbidden to bring the flesh of killed animals into the temple. This is due to the fact that Christ himself once sacrificed himself.
If there is a need to consecrate meat products, then this should be done outside the temple.
What can you put in an Easter basket?
It is customary to bless dyes, salt, Easter cakes and cottage cheese. But you can add other products:
- meat, symbolizing the sacrificial lamb - boiled pork, sausage;
- fermented milk, indicating the occupation of ancestors - cheese, butter;
- vegetables and greens - only some priests allow it, it is advisable to discuss it in advance.
Before the meal, a church candle is placed in the center of the Easter cake. You can put it in a basket in advance or buy it at a church store. The gifts are decorated with towels, which are then hung under the icons to protect the house from evil forces throughout the year.
Is it possible to bless Easter cakes yourself?
If there is a quarantine in the city where the reader lives, you can consecrate the Easter cakes at home. The Moscow Patriarchate has already announced an algorithm thanks to which believers can perform the traditional consecration of festive food before Easter. You can do this without leaving your home, the main thing is to have holy water.
An interesting publication recently appeared on the official portal of the Moscow Patriarchate. She reminds that a significant number of parishioners will not be able to visit churches on the holiday. With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus', the consecration procedure can be carried out for Easter cakes and holiday food at home.
Products unsuitable for consecration in church
Many adults, in order to bring joy to children, place chocolate eggs or other figures and candies in a basket along with colored eggs. It is undesirable to do this, although there is no clear prohibition. It is strictly forbidden to consecrate alcohol, including red wine. This is done separately.
Attention!
Perhaps the priest of a particular church allows Cahors to be brought to the service, but this is wrong.
A categorical ban on products that contain blood: blood sausage, hematogen, medicinal bread for anemia. This is stated separately in Holy Scripture.
Blessing of Easter cakes in churches
On pre-holiday and holiday days the church is open to everyone. Anyone can come here, pray, bless food and listen to church chants. There is a special table in the church for Easter baskets.
Food is placed here by people who attend the service and listen to the chants. The table with treats is blessed first. The priest sprinkles them with holy water and congratulates people on the bright holiday.
After this, the priest goes out into the street and blesses the food of those who were not present at the service.
How does the rite of consecration take place?
There is a legend why the main gifts for Easter are Easter cakes and eggs. The tradition of placing holiday bread at the head of the table has been around since Jesus sat down to eat with his disciples. And eggs from the time of Mary Magdalene. She, preaching Christianity, reached the Emperor Tiberius himself. But it was impossible to go to him empty-handed, and she only had a basket of eggs. Having heard about the resurrection of Christ, the emperor expressed skepticism that the eggs would sooner turn red than this would happen. And then the shell changed color to purple.
Sprinkling occurs as follows. Tables are set up in the temple where prepared gifts are laid out. In courtyards, people place them on bags or newspapers, if the priests haven’t thought about benches. Once every 30-40 minutes, the priest goes around the believers with a censer, sprinkling the food with Holy water.
At this time he sings the troparion: “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death. And he gave life to those in the graves.” The chant is periodically interrupted by the exclamation “Christ is risen!” The Orthodox, in response, must cross themselves and confirm: “Truly he is risen!” It is not customary to kiss in church, much less approach the priest.
Interesting!
There is no need to stick a candle into the Easter cake when blessing it. The flame can go out from the wind or from a draft in the church. Many people consider this a bad omen, and the residue remains for a long time. In fact, this does not mean anything, but still you should not give impetus to bad thoughts.
Some of the gifts need to be placed in a basket - it stands in the church or is carried by the minister. You can simply give the treats to the poor.
Is it possible to bless wine?
Another question that Christians often ask is “Can wine be blessed?” The priests also answer this question in the negative. Since the consumption of alcohol itself is a great sin, the sanctification of alcoholic products will be blasphemy.
There is only one type of wine, which is not only allowed for consecration, but is also used in the church for many rituals. We are talking about Cahors. Although this wine is alcoholic, it is still traditionally used to celebrate the sacrament of communion.
However, it is still better not to bring even Cahors Cahors to the temple in a basket with Easter cake and eggs. After all, drinking alcohol is always a sin. And even on such a great holiday as Easter, it is better to refrain from using it, no matter in what form it may be.
Of course, after a long fast, people want to break their fast and rejoice, but through sanctification they should not try to receive a blessing to commit such sins as drunkenness and gluttony.
Is it possible to bless Easter cakes and eggs at home?
The ceremony is allowed to be performed at home. The Church recommends doing this in special cases: in case of illness, if you are far from the temple, or, as now, during quarantine. After all, consecrated food does not bring us closer to God, it only becomes a festive symbol. You need to come to the service not for this, but to venerate the shroud and partake of the Holy Sacrament. Even if they don’t sit down at the table afterwards, they don’t lose anything.
The ritual is carried out as follows:
- Light a blessed candle.
- Read 3 prayers: “To the Heavenly King”, “Trisagion”, “Our Father”. They can be found in any prayer book.
- They sing the Sunday troparion of the second cry.
- The prepared gifts are sprinkled three times with Holy water, stored from the Blessing of Waters and from Baptism.
- The action is completed with a ritual - reading a blessing in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
It does not matter at what time to consecrate the gifts, on what day - Saturday or Sunday. But it is advisable not to miss this moment. This is necessary to confirm the meaning of the holiday: after all, just as life is born under a lifeless shell, so Jesus rose from the tomb to Eternal life.
You should not put a lot of products in the basket so that they do not spoil. You cannot throw away consecrated gifts. It is customary to give crumbs from Easter cakes to the birds, and bury egg shells in the ground. This is not just invented: the shell of eggs contains many useful substances that plants need. They absorb them and begin to develop faster. This once again confirms the rebirth of new life - living from the dead.
Send this prayer to your loved ones
Filling rules
It is important to put food in the Easter basket correctly. They should not be stacked randomly. It is necessary to fold everything compactly. However, you should not take them in large quantities. Food that is consecrated should be used only for breaking the fast. Therefore there should not be a lot of it.
In addition to food, candles and several branches of coniferous plants should also be placed in the basket. Candles should be stuck into Easter cakes and burn during the consecration ceremony. Therefore, you also need to take a box of matches with you. But you shouldn’t put it in the basket itself. And coniferous plants will be a symbol of eternal and immortal life - the one that Jesus Christ gave us by sacrificing himself.
Blessing of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' for the blessing of Easter cakes
A publication appeared on the official website of the Moscow Patriarchate that due to the threat of coronavirus, believers will not be able to visit churches on the holiday, April 19.
The website reports that Patriarch Kirill blesses believers to consecrate Easter cakes, Easter cottage cheese, Easter eggs and other Easter food independently, after reading a prayer.
How to prepare for Easter celebrations at home
In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, modern people miss out on many of the rituals that our grandparents practiced. According to the clergy, the very coming to church to bless the Easter cakes for church people is not the central event of everyday preparation for Easter. It would be correct to make a labor effort, which would be considered almost prayerful.
Therefore, the church advises not to buy Easter cakes this year, but to get up before dawn, as expected, start baking Easter cakes, get your grandmother’s recipe, and color the eggs yourself.
This year gives us additional opportunities, and if you follow these tips, the celebration of the Holy Resurrection of Christ will sparkle with new colors.
Preparing for the holiday meal
As a rule, Easter morning begins with the whole family sitting down at the table, lighting a candle, reading a prayer and breaking their fast with the treats that were lit the day before. You should definitely start your breakfast on this holiday with a piece of hard-boiled egg and a piece of Easter cake. But in order to set the festive table, you need to prepare everything you need for the holiday. Is it possible to go to the cemetery on Easter?
First of all, the main and most important attributes of Easter are Easter cakes and colored eggs, which are also called krashenki or pysanky. It is customary to paint eggs and bake Easter cakes during Holy Week, on Maundy Thursday. If the preparations cannot be done on this day, then you can continue to prepare traditional treats for Easter on Holy Saturday, the day before the holiday.
Interesting! It is believed that you should not cook on Good Friday. But our ancestors were sure that it was on Good Friday that we should bake Easter cakes and paint eggs. The Easter cakes turned out to be especially lush this Friday. There is a belief that if you bake a loaf of bread on this day, it will not become moldy.
