How to properly consecrate Easter cakes and eggs at home?
How to consecrate Easter cake and eggs at home yourself is a very pressing question these days... Yes, we are going through a difficult time now - the coronavirus pandemic has changed the life of the whole world, our country, each of us... This applies to daily affairs, work with salaries, and visits certain places, as well as the celebration of the most important day of the year - the holiday of holidays - the Resurrection of Christ!
I made a separate post about how to protect yourself from coronavirus. In it, I talked about whether a mask protects, as well as about the three simplest and most effective rules of prevention, so as not to get sick yourself and not to infect others. Remember that each of us can be sick without symptoms or simply be a carrier of infection. And the one to whom we pass it on, unnoticed by ourselves, may get sick or even die... Let's think not only about ourselves, but also about the people around us!
The question of how to consecrate Easter cake at home for Easter 2020 arose for all believers after it became clear that the coronavirus pandemic in Russia is still gaining momentum, so the self-isolation regime cannot be lifted now. In this regard, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' called on us, all Orthodox Christians, not to tempt the Lord, and to accept this difficult situation with Christian humility - to stay home this Easter (in 2020 it falls on April 19).
Those who do not consider themselves smarter than the Patriarch, have common sense and realize the importance of what is happening - will do so. Well, for those for whom nothing and no one can tell, I would like to quote the words of Archpriest Alexander Abramov, said on this topic: “There is no need to blackmail the Lord with your piety.” He also called the behavior of frantic zealots, who are now stirring up trouble, harming both themselves and others, “stupid pseudo-religious fanaticism.”
So, dear Orthodox Christians, let us spend this Easter night at home, with our loved ones and relatives, by turning on the live broadcast of the festive service! It’s time to remember what Jesus Christ said: “When the Pharisees asked when the Kingdom of God would come, he answered them: The Kingdom of God will not come in a noticeable way, and they will not say: behold, it is here, or, behold, there. For behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21).
To consecrate the Easter cake and eggs at home, you need to sing the Easter troparion
:
“Christ is risen from the dead, / trampling death over death, / and giving life to those in the tombs.”
And then sprinkle the food - all Easter treats - Easter cakes, Easter cottage cheese, dyes - with blessed water, saying:
“In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen". This was reported on the official website of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Well, if you really want to work a little extra prayerfully, then sing or
Blessing Easter cakes at home
“How can you bless Easter cakes and eggs if there is no church nearby? If it is not possible to go to church to bless the pasochki, then can this be done at home, or do you have to go to church?”
These questions were asked to me before the Easter holiday. I answer.
Everyone knows that Easter cakes and eggs must be blessed by a priest. It’s good if there’s a church nearby and you have the time and health to stand in line to have the Easter cakes blessed. In one of the churches I saw long tables on which parishioners placed their bundles. Four priests walked around the tables. One carried water, another carried a tray for collecting money, and the third priest carried a tray for collecting eggs and Easter cakes, and the fourth consecrated. One granny looked around puzzledly and rummaged in her pockets. It turns out that you need to put a candle in the Easter cake and be sure to light it yourself and only with matches, but she didn’t have any matches, but you can’t light it with a candle. That's why she was worried, and fortunately, a woman standing next to her helped her. Of course, it was possible and necessary to light a candle, but the prohibition invented by people played a role. The priests quickly passed by, dousing everyone with water, and the parishioners, taking their bundles, made room on the table for other bundles. That's it, the lighting ritual is over. Everything was fussy, fast, as if it was all being done for show. And, looking at this whole ritual of consecrating Easter cakes and eggs before Easter, it becomes sad and painful in my soul. The ritual takes place without True Faith in God.
This is what our grandfathers and great-grandfathers did, and this is what we do too. Nothing has changed in 2022 years. And many live by the principle: “We have always done it this way, and we will do it this way.” It’s a pity, but over so many years faith and love for the Lord have not increased, but a ritual has become established that practically does not provide any spiritual education. After all, this is not an ordinary day, but Great Easter, the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ, and if there is devotion and love, pure faith in God, recognition and gratitude to God, then the human soul wants to do something pleasant for the Lord on this Bright Day. Joy and light should be around, and not sad faces in a long line and hasty consecration. I’m not exaggerating, but I’m saying what I saw myself in big cities, where there are many churches, and even more queues.
What's wrong with that? People go to church. Yes, this is good, it means that people know the way to the Holy Temple, which means they want to receive the blessing of the Lord. And again, to receive a blessing through someone, but not to personally stand before God, communicate with Him from heart to Heart, and receive personal blessing and help from Him. But modern man often lacks either desire, time, or faith.
Today people have forgotten how to bake their own Easter cakes, Easter cakes, or have become lazy, I don’t know, but the joy of the human soul before the Bright Day has ceased to be felt. The triumph and love of the human spirit is not in the air. Nature rejoices, Heaven rejoices, but human hearts do not glow with love and gratitude towards our Lord, the Savior of the human soul. We bought an Easter cake, blessed it, if possible, but no, then it will do. This concluded the solemn part of the holiday.
Do you know who and how baked these Easter cakes intended for our Lord? In what mood? This is a normal job for a baker. And, of course, there is no question of any prayer before starting work. But this is not just bread with raisins! This Easter cake or Easter cake is baked only once a year, and only on Easter, which means the attitude towards it should be different.
Experience of generations
In the old days in Rus', people prepared for baking Easter cakes in advance. They put on clean, light clothes, lit candles, which burned all day, as if the candle fire showed the way to the Lord, Whom they wait for, believe and love here. And this solemn mood of the Holiday did not pass for three whole days.
Everyone who was involved in baking Easter cakes, Easter cakes, at home or at work, first prayed and asked God to bless their work so that the dough would be successful, and when the Easter cakes were ready, they prayed again and asked the Lord to bless and sanctify all the Easter cakes. and colored eggs. And no one dared to raise their voice, condemn someone or, God forbid, shout. In silence, in calmness, in goodness and peace, the dough rose, absorbing the love of the soul of everyone who worked with the dough...
“The dough won’t rise or will fall from the screaming, and if the music is still blaring or someone is swearing, then the dough will taste empty or slightly bitter, even though it’s rich. Everything must be done with love and soul, because you are not baking a cake, but a cake for the Lord Himself,” my mother said. And she's right. Only less and less often do people themselves fuss lovingly around their Easter cake dough. Convenient to buy in the store. But this is everyone’s business, and I think not everyone has the time, opportunity and desire to do everything themselves.
So you yourself baked lush, beautiful, delicious Easter cakes, before that you prayed (you can take prayers to bless food) or bought an Easter cake in the store, painted eggs, put everything on a clean tablecloth and thought. It needs to be consecrated, but there is no church nearby, or there is no time to stand in line, or my health has let me down. What to do?
Light the candles and pray in front of the Faces of the Saints. First, you turn to the Lord in your simple words, something like this:
“Our Lord! Our Savior, our Comforter! Our Beloved Jesus Christ! Tomorrow is Your Day, and today I baked an Easter cake for You and painted eggs. Our Lord, through prayers I send You my love and gratitude. Accept from me my modest gifts, these prayers and Easter cakes that I baked for You.”
Then read
“Our Father”, “Virgin Mary”, “To the Holy Spirit”
, as well as those prayers that you want to read. And again you turn to the Lord, something like this:
“Our Lord Jesus Christ! I ask You to cleanse and consecrate all my Easter cakes and eggs that are here. Send the Holy Spirit and your God’s Blessing to them.”
Take a brush (not with your palm) of holy water and confidently, calmly, cross-bless the little beads three times and say:
“With the Power of the Fiery Cross, the Love of Jesus Christ, I bless all this food that the Lord has given us today, and which we gratefully accept.
God the Father, God the Sun, God the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Or: In the Name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit and Divine Mother. Amen (3 times)
».
After all these actions, you again turn to God in your own words and ask Him to consecrate and bless all your products. Again, take the holy water and bless yourself again three times with the cross and say:
“In the Name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit and the Divine Mother. Amen"
.
And after that, leave the cakes in silence for a few minutes. Everything, all your delicious Easter cakes, Easter cakes and eggs received the blessing of the Lord, and the Holy Spirit entered into them, and then the Love of the Lord will enter into you when you eat your products with love and gratitude.
Just do everything seriously, calmly and with love in your heart, and everything will work out for you. This is almost exactly what I do, many of my friends and some relatives do this, and if you want, you can bless your Easter cakes yourself. And if you have the right attitude to work in your soul, then the Lord Himself will be next to you. After all, you bless in the Name of the Lord!
It is advisable to do this if there is no church nearby. The priests read the same prayers and sprinkle holy water in the same way. Only this is their job, but yours is the Call of the Soul. This is especially true in 2022 in the context of coronavirus, when it is not recommended to leave home and be in crowded places.
And if you baked a lot of Easter cakes and didn’t eat them all, then treat your friends and neighbors, make crackers for tea, but do not throw the blessed Easter cakes, like bread, on the ground. If you give it to animals or birds, make sure they eat everything.
Health, peace, lots of Light and joy to everyone!
Peace to your home! Peace to our Earth!
Lyudmila GUBKO
FULL TEXT IN THE BOOK “LIFE LESSONS” VOLUME 4.
Charity. GenBank. Card number 2200070101986914 for maintaining the website and publishing books.
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.
What prayer is read to consecrate the Easter basket?
To bless the Easter basket yourself at home, you should sing the Easter troparion three times before the Easter meal: “Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and giving life to those in the tombs.”
Then you need to sprinkle the food with blessed water with the words “In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen".
According to the clergy, the most important thing in this ritual is holy water.
It is impossible to sanctify water on your own. Only the priest does this. But usually every home has holy water. Even a drop will be enough. In addition, it can be added to ordinary water, which is thereby sanctified.
If you still can’t find holy water, you can sing Easter chants and simply cross the Easter cakes.
It's not about magic, it's about gratitude to God
Archpriest Alexander Ageikin
Archpriest Alexander Ageikin , rector of the Epiphany Cathedral in Elokhov, Moscow:
No one forces you to bless food for the Easter table - this is a pious tradition. But sanctification is not just something you do for yourself. A person comes to the temple with something, in this case these are traditional Easter dishes - Easter cottage cheese, colored eggs, Easter cakes, meat - with gratitude to God that he has all this.
After all, everything that a person consumes is given to him from God. That’s why we leave some of the food we brought in the temple.
We remember the appeal of Christ, which will be heard at the Last Judgment: “I was hungry, and you fed Me” (Matthew 25:35), because “what you did to one of the least of My brothers, you did to Me” (Matthew 25:40).
By leaving some food in the temple, a person leaves it for his neighbor. Anyone in extreme need can come to church and receive Easter cottage cheese, Easter cake, and painted Easter eggs. This is an important part of the tradition of blessing food.
So this is not about magic, not about transforming some substance into something special, but about gratitude to God, about our sacrifice to God in the person of those people who do not have the opportunity to purchase these products for themselves due to various circumstances.
The situation when we come to a store and are offered to buy Easter cakes that have already been consecrated here is not an Orthodox tradition: a person is deprived of the opportunity to come to church with a thanksgiving sacrifice. Or, for example, a restaurant says: “All our dishes are blessed.” For what? Are we talking about food sacrificed to idols?
The tradition of charity and sincere participation in the life of one's neighbor lives in the consecration of various foods - apples, honey, Easter dishes. By the way, there is such a tradition in Islam, when on Muslim holidays every poor person receives a piece of lamb meat that was sacrificed according to ancient tradition.
We replace this with other dishes, but this refers us to those ancient, Old Testament traditions that no longer have force in the Nativity and Resurrection of Christ, but, transformed, make it possible to participate in the life of our neighbor.
In fact, consecration on Holy Saturday is not a traditional phenomenon, but a certain need of our crowded parishes. Traditionally, food was blessed after the night Easter service. That is, for those who came to the temple to pray, and not just to sanctify.
The situation when it is necessary to consecrate on Saturday is not bad: a person has the opportunity to venerate the Shroud, pray in the temple, and hear Easter chants during the consecration.
But, on the other hand, it turns out a little strange: it’s still Holy Saturday, Christ is still symbolically lying in the Shroud in the middle of the temple, and Easter Hymns are already being sung. Many ignorant people then return home and begin to break their fast.
This is a relic of Soviet times, when there were few churches, when many could not come to the night Easter service.
In small rural churches, even in the Moscow region, many parishioners consecrate the food they brought after the night service or after the liturgy in the morning.
If the consecration takes place on Saturday, and the person could not come, it’s okay. The fact that he eats consecrated food or unconsecrated food does not in any way bring him closer to God or further away from Him. The Apostle Paul also speaks about this.
The fact that many people come to the consecration on Holy Saturday who do not go to church and do not live church life is a wonderful opportunity for missionary service.
We are preparing for this day, releasing special leaflets and materials, which are then distributed to people so that they can read and understand: sanctification is a small part of our spiritual tradition, which is based on your presence, you must give yourself to God.
So all full-time missionaries in our church are obliged to go on duty on Holy Saturday, to involve volunteers in distributing missionary leaflets, in conversations, in communicating with people.
So Holy Saturday is a holiday for missionaries, because there is such an opportunity to talk with people about the Main thing!
The Savior says that the fields are “white and ready for harvest” (John 4:35). When the courtyards of churches are filled with people who have come to bless Easter dishes, this is the field that needs to be worked with.
Prayer for the blessing of Easter cakes at home for Easter 2022
Easter 2022 is celebrated on April 24. For this holiday, eggs are painted, Easter cottage cheese and Easter cakes are prepared. Is it possible to consecrate Easter cakes yourself? How to do this correctly at home and what prayer you need to read for this, we will tell you in detail here.
To bless Easter cakes, Easter cakes and eggs on the eve of this holiday, believers come to churches on Holy Saturday. Usually in city churches the consecration of Easter cakes takes place starting with the morning service throughout the day.
In some parish churches this ritual is performed early on Sunday morning. Therefore, before going to church to bless the Easter cakes, it is better to inquire in advance about the time and order of the Easter service.
However, not all believers can visit churches on this day. Some cannot do this for health reasons.
If the consecration takes place on Saturday, and people couldn’t come, it’s okay, the clergy say. The fact that a person eats consecrated food or unconsecrated food does not in any way bring him closer to God or further him from Him. The Apostle Paul also speaks about this.
And yet, for many believers, the consecration of food is of great importance. When Easter approaches after seven weeks of fasting, it is only natural that people would want to serve blessed food to the table.
The custom of bringing fruits in church for blessing was established in the Old Testament (“You shall bring the firstfruits of the fruits of your land into the house of the Lord your God.” Ex. 23:19) and was preserved in subsequent years in Christianity.
The prayer for the blessing of Easter cakes in church on Holy Saturday sounds like this. After the cry: “Blessed is our God!” Before the prayer for consecration, the Sunday troparion in the 2nd tone is sung:
“When you descended to death, Immortal Life, then you put hell to death with the brilliance of the Divine; when you also raised those who had died from the underworld, all the powers of heaven cried out: O Life-Giver, Christ our God, glory to Thee.”
How to consecrate Easter cake at home?
The everyday form of consecration is the sign of the cross. Orthodox believers daily overshadow food in this way before eating it.
How to bless Easter cakes yourself? The consecration of products by the laity is accomplished by sprinkling them three times with holy water and saying the prayer:
“This food is blessed and sanctified by sprinkling this holy water, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen".
As you can see, the prayer for the blessing of Easter cakes is the same as on other days. There is no special prayer for this case.
