Christ is Ascended! (Huh?)

In the wee hours of Pascha, we Orthodox begin a joyful dialogue where when someone says: Christ is Risen! the reply is Indeed, He is Risen! — or, Truly, He is Risen!

In those early hours of Pascha, some folks have grown a little rusty with their Orthodox lingo.

Imagine: “Christ is Risen!”

“Glorify Him!”
(The Christmas response.)

Or … “Christ is Risen!”

And the inevitable: “Happy Easter!”

Then there’s the fun we have for 40 days in the shortened written form. Emails and letters end with just the letters XB, CA, or CR (Христос воскресе, Christos Anesti, Christ is Risen) – and the reply comes back BB, AA, or TR (воистину воскресе, Alithós anésti, Truly Risen).

We say it, “Christ is Risen – Indeed, He is Risen” at the end of our services, our family prayers, answering the telephone, and concluding the blessing over food.

I say it when I kiss my kids goodnight.

And it’s the young children that seem most disappointed when we no longer continue the Christ is Risen dialogue: “Why can’t we say it anymore?”

Well, that’s a good question.

Why CAN’T we say it any more?

The Orthodixie Podcast on Ancient Faith Radio.

Pic Source