The consecration of Easter cakes for Easter is held annually on Holy Saturday. What day Easter cakes will be blessed this year is April 15, because Christian Easter (this year the celebration coincided with all confessions) falls on April 16. The consecration of Easter cakes and other food is held after the morning service and ends late in the evening.
Many people are still confused with the exact date of the consecration of food on the eve of Easter, because there has been some shift in church canons. Previously, food was blessed the night after the Easter service from Saturday to Sunday, somewhere at 4 in the morning. In the evening on the eve of midnight, a service in the church began, at midnight there was a procession, after which you can safely say to each other “Christ is Risen”, because Easter was coming. Then there was a divine service, and after that the priests consecrated the food.
But this tradition of consecration at night had to be changed and everything was transferred to the day of Holy Saturday. The fact is that this is one of the most popular church rituals among Orthodox believers. A lot of people come to the temple with Easter baskets, which means that you need to find a place for everyone. The consecration begins at noon on Holy Saturday and continues uninterruptedly for about six hours until late in the evening.
The shops are taken out into the street, because the temple simply cannot accommodate all the believers, people go to church in a constant stream and the consecration of products goes on continuously. By the way, do you know exactly what to put in the consecration basket? , this is understandable, but what else?
If you look at the conversations with the priest, then every minister of the church will answer that it is not worth carrying huge baskets of food for consecration. This is a symbolic tradition, you can’t eat a lot of consecrated foods: a piece of everything early in the morning during the entire festive Easter period. Be sure to have Easter cake and colored eggs in the basket, everything else is optional, but once again it must be emphasized that there is not much.
Important! In no case should wine or other alcoholic beverages be brought to the temple for consecration. Take a basket that is compact in shape and size, with a flat bottom: so that it is convenient to put it on the ground or on special benches. It is recommended to cover the food in the basket with a clean towel.
The priests also emphasize that in no case should the consecration of food be made the only Easter church rite that is performed in the family. Unfortunately, today it can be found all the time. During the seven weeks of Great Lent, people did not pray, did not go to church, did not receive communion or confess, but on Saturday they go to church solely for the purpose of consecrating food. Pay attention to other, more fundamental and important stages of preparation for the Easter of Christ.
For example, even if during Great Lent there was no time for spiritual life at all, however, the Great
Saturday is a mandatory day off on the eve of the holiday. Of course, you are going to the temple to consecrate food, since you are reading this article. So why not go to church on this day by 9 am, defend the service, take communion, confess, and then go outside and with a pure heart, a purified soul, consecrate Easter products?
Or, if a person did not fast, nothing prevents him from fasting on Great Saturday until four in the morning - it is from this time after the festive service on Sunday that the fast ends and you can already break the fast, eating a piece of food consecrated in advance, and then all other food which is no longer banned.
photo: Gennady Cherkasov
- When do you need to paint eggs and bake Easter cakes?
After services dedicated to the events of Maundy Thursday, remembrances of the Hidden Supper and communion. That is, on Thursday evening. Many do it on Friday, but on the most mournful day of the Hot Week, it is still more important not to deal with everyday things. It is more important to buy these products.
When cooking these products at home, is it necessary to observe any rituals?
No. Pray, ask for the blessings of the Lord, read "Our Father" - a century of greatness. However, there are no special spiritual rules for painting eggs and baking Easter cakes.
When are eggs and Easter cakes blessed?
On Saturday, after the morning liturgy: the usual consecration begins at approximately noon and continues until nine o'clock in the evening. You can do it on Sunday too.
Can non-baptized people bless Easter cakes and eggs?
They can, of course: both sanctify and participate in worship. Those who are not baptized do not hope to partake of everything.
Other food and wine, which will be on the front table, are consecrated in the church?
It is enough to consecrate Easter cakes and eggs. Everything else you can consecrate with an individual prayer at home, at a meal. Wine is not consecrated in the church, there is no need for this.
What should be on the Easter table?
After the Easter service, permission is given for all types of shamovka. Everything, of course, everything should be in moderation. If a person kept a fast, then you do not need to immediately overeat: this can be dangerous to health. Everything should be in moderation, unusually it touches alcohol.
What should an Orthodox do on Saturday, besides lighting eggs and Easter cakes?
Come to your senses in the morning the Divine Liturgy, take communion. Because as if one on Saturday is the victory over death. As a sign of this, during the Liturgy, the priests change from black robes to white ones. And already at midnight, believers will have to return to the sanctuary for the festive service and the procession.
Is it possible to come to the Liturgy immediately with provisions, which will later be consecrated, or is it more important to bring them later?
No, people come to the service immediately with bags and bundles. Stand with them, nothing infernal. After all, it is not necessary to consecrate all the eggs and Easter cakes at once. One-one kulichik, one egg. That's enough. Everything else will be sanctified from them - at home.
There is a tradition of picking up candles from the service on Impeccable Thursday. And after the service, which ends with the consecration of eggs and Easter cakes, do they take the candle home?
No, this is only done on Maundy Thursday in the evening, when the candles are extinguished after reading the Gospels. Then the candle is taken home, kept and lit on special occasions of one's life. And on other days, the candles are not extinguished, and they naturally remain in the temple.
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When to bless Easter cakes for Easter 2018
Preparation for Easter is no less important for every Christian than the holiday itself. After all, until this moment, believers need to have time to do a lot. Forty-eight days before the Great Feast, fasting begins, during which each person must have time to repent of his sins, confess, take communion, and also cleanse himself spiritually and bodily.
The most difficult week is Holy Week, because this is a time of especially strict fasting, when almost all week you can eat only raw food without oil. In general, you can only drink water. However, at the same time, people have a lot of worries: they need to clean up on a clean Thursday, go to the temple on Friday, and also wake up early on Saturday morning, bake Easter cakes, paint eggs and cook festive dishes. When the housewives cope with this work, they will have to collect a basket and go with it to the temple. All these actions people perform from year to year, but many still do not know exactly when to sanctify Easter cakes for Easter, when to come to the temple and when you can eat the first egg.
Consecration of Easter cakes in churches
It so happened that recently each temple has its own rules. Therefore, it is better for parishioners to ask in advance,
when to bless Easter cakes for Easter 2018. After all, in different churches this ceremony is performed on different days. Somewhere food coverage takes place on Holy Saturday, somewhere on the night before Easter, and somewhere early on Sunday morning.
It also happens that in churches where a huge number of people come for Easter, they consecrate Easter cakes throughout the day and night. Therefore, it is best for believers to ask the clergy in the temple when it will be necessary to bring food for consecration.
Consecration of food according to church rules
All rituals in churches are performed according to certain canons, and the Easter service is no exception. True, in some cases a slight deviation is allowed.
According to the rules followed by the ministers of the church for many, many years, a service with chants begins on the night from Saturday to Sunday. And it lasts until morning. But the consecration of food brought by believers is usually carried out at four o'clock in the morning, when it is already a holiday.
But this does not mean that food cannot be blessed on Saturday evening. This day is also of great importance, the priests are already coming out to the parishioners in white robes, and the choir is singing joyful songs, because everyone anticipates the Resurrection of the Savior. That is why the consecration of Easter cakes is also allowed on Saturday. Moreover, in some temples this rule was introduced a very long time ago.
And all because our ancestors reasoned logically. If housewives have to get up early on Saturday, work all day, bake and cook, then it is understandable that it will be difficult for them to endure the all-night service. Therefore, food was taken to the temple in the evening. However, the most religious people still believe that the consecration of food should be carried out only after the person has defended the entire night service.
Dishes and foods that can be consecrated at Easter
Tips for those who go to the temple with food
Easter is just as great a holiday as Christmas, so those who are going to go to the temple with food for the first time should prepare for a huge crowd of people. It is especially difficult for residents of large cities, near the tables for the consecration of food, a real crush often begins. Therefore, it is best to come to church as early as possible. So you can feel calm, because even if the time of consecration changes, you won’t have to run to church headlong.
Also, following the traditions, you should take care to find a good container or basket for the products. It is the baskets that are considered the most convenient, because everything that is there is in plain sight. If you do not want to show the contents of the basket to other parishioners, you can close the basket with an embroidered napkin. Now the stores sell a huge number of different containers, where you can also add an Easter set of products. But it should be borne in mind that the boxes should be compact, because you need to try to ensure that there is enough space on the table for consecration for everyone.
This year, Easter is celebrated on April 8, which means that it will be possible to recover with a basket to the temple on April 7 in the evening. It is believed that people who worthily pass all the trials of fasting, and also defend the vigil, will receive the blessing of the Lord for a long time.
It is clear that many believers are concerned about the question of the time of illumination. Here, of course, all temples can have their own schedule. Large churches in cities, as a rule, hold illumination from early morning until late in the evening, ending only a few hours before the start of the Easter evening service. As for the towns and villages, the lighting is often carried out by a visiting priest, so the schedule can be found right on the door of the temple the day before.
Why light up food
Many people, on the eve of Easter, go to the temple with their baskets to lighten the food. They find out when to bless Easter cakes in Moscow or another city and try to keep the tradition, but they don’t always know why this is done. The illuminated food is the first pieces of food that, after the end of Great Lent and on the morning of Holy Pascha, the believer must put into his mouth.
You need to clearly understand that you should not take a lot of food and whole separate dishes with you. Lighted food solely to "break the fast". This means eating a small piece of the food that was forbidden during Lent. Of course, believers who did not fast should still observe this tradition.
What to put in the Easter basket
Today, you will not see anything in the Easter baskets of people who came to the temple. Sometimes even a bottle of wine peeks out. Of course, there are certain canons that you need to put in your basket with you. We are talking about such Easter dishes as colored eggs (preferably red) and. You can also take with you a small cottage cheese Easter and a piece of meat or sausage, there must be salt in the basket.
As for other products, it all depends on your personal desire. But it will not be superfluous to emphasize that you do not need to bring alcohol, a lot of sweets, or just a lot of food (for example, 10 different types of meat) with you. After all, illuminated food should not be thrown away and it should not be eaten up. Therefore, you need to light up as many foods as your family can eat at the beginning of each morning meal for a week in order to meet the two conditions described above.
How to eat illuminated food
Great Saturday, as a rule, from 10.00 to 18.00 is the time and day when to bless Easter cakes and. Each temple may have its own schedule, so you can look at it in advance when you go to the service on Good Friday or another day of Great Week.
You can eat illuminated food only on Easter morning. Some people make a common mistake and start eating this food after they return from the nightly Easter service. This is not true. It is necessary to wait for the festive morning and then, with a clear conscience, with faith and purity in the soul, start the meal with prayer, and then with the illuminated products. We literally eat a small piece of everything, do not forget enlightened salt.
There is a definite answer to the question of when Easter cakes and eggs are illuminated in 2019. In 2019, the consecration of the festive meal will begin on Holy Saturday, April 27. As a rule, in each temple, the priest sets his own time from which the consecration of Easter cakes begins, some start after 13.00, some after 16.00. But still, it is considered more correct to consecrate food on Sunday from 04.00 in the morning.
Every year, people who observe holy traditions wonder what day Great Easter falls on and when it is necessary to sanctify Easter cakes. The ceremony of consecrating the dishes for the Easter table begins at about 10 am. In all churches, special places are prepared for this event with long tables and benches, on which decorated baskets with Easter cakes and eggs are placed. A candle is stuck into the cake, symbolizing the blessed fire. Depending on the number of people who came, consecration can take place in the temple itself or on the street near the porch.
Easter preparations
The last week before Easter is called Holy Week. These days, believers are actively preparing for the coming of the great holiday. On Maundy Thursday, it is supposed to clean the house, bake Easter cakes and paint eggs. Such preparations are an ancient tradition and are an integral part of the holiday ritual. It is also traditional to illuminate festive dishes in temples and churches.
Due to the large flow of people, the sprinkling of holy water takes place in several visits, as the tables are filled. In some churches, the consecration of Easter cakes takes place only on Sunday after the night service. True believers believe that it is more correct to sanctify food for breaking the fast on Easter day.
Oddly enough, on such days, even those people who do not attend church on ordinary days come to the ceremony of consecrating Easter cakes and eggs. For them, this day is a kind of cry of the soul and a great revelation. The holiday awakens the desire to touch the holy places and leave a piece of what the Lord has given. Many find it difficult to cross the psychological barrier of communicating with church traditions, but thanks to the bright tradition, the festive mood and the voluntary nature of the ritual, it is much easier to take the first steps.
Traditions for the holiday
According to the tradition of the holiday, it is necessary to leave part of the food brought as a gift to those in need. Such a ritual warms the hearts and teaches goodness to the younger generation. Very often, children who come to such an event for the first time remember this event for the rest of their lives and in the future try to observe good church customs. Visiting a temple always has a magical effect on a person. Getting into an unusual atmosphere of silence and holiness, the psyche calms down, the problems of the outside world recede for a while. In the modern rhythm of life, it is sometimes difficult to find even a little time to communicate with God.
The pre-holiday consecration of Easter cakes attracts with its colorfulness and simplicity the most diverse categories of people, gives strong emotional nourishment to those who need warmth of the heart. The main idea and meaning of the Easter consecration of Easter cakes and eggs is that the use of consecrated food does not make a person closer to God, but only reminds him of his existence. True faith and holiness must come to a believing person through his soul and deeds.
When believers sanctify Easter cakes
It is quite convenient to dedicate Easter cakes without a long service and getting up early in the morning. But Orthodox people know that such an approach is fundamentally wrong. It is possible to sanctify Easter cakes and Easter only after the night service. Blessing of food begins after the Easter Liturgy. And in the early morning, all the priests change dark clothes into festive ones, after which they begin to bless food, water and parishioners.
Most often, a large number of people are observed in a church or temple, who are waiting for the priests and put baskets with various products in front of them.
This morning it is desirable to wake up as early as possible and come to church. There will be quite a lot of people who want to devote food and water. If the temple or church is small, then the process can be divided into several visits. At a time when the clergy go around all the parishioners and conduct the ceremony, you can donate food or money to the church.
Of course, it is best to visit the service itself in the church. On Sunday night the priests do not sleep. Yes, and in this way you can get closer to God, feel like a part of a big action.
When coming to church in order to dedicate Easter cakes, Easter cakes and products, it is worth remembering what time Easter falls on. If it is early spring, then you should dress warmly enough. If I consecrate food on the street, then after the procession, not only food will be consecrated, but also clothes on people. Therefore, you should play it safe and put on something warmer.
After the Easter cakes have been consecrated, the parishioners begin to go home. And in the morning, on the tables of many families of the country, a large, tasty and consecrated Easter cake flaunts. It will symbolize health, prosperity and success in 2018. Therefore, it is very important that every member of the family eat at least a piece of it. Many believe that in this way you can get health for the whole current year.
Therefore, be sure to visit the church in the early morning of April 28, 2019.
