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On
Thursday the Korca City Government put 10 wooden homes in the square in
front of the cathedral and the according to an old Korcar tradition the
pottery fair was held. The tradition is taken from the gospel where the
money which Judas returned after his betrayal of the Lord was used to
buy a potter’s field and so according to tradition everyone buys pottery
in memory of this event.
Taking
the Lord down from the Cross was commemorated in a service on Friday.
The moments after this event, the city was filled with church bells
ringing out in mourning. Again thousands of people venerated the
Epitafion of the Lord. On this day another tradition has developed
though it is unknown when and where this tradition began. Everyone goes
and takes leave of the Epitafion in all the churches as a sign of
thankfulness and appreciation for the ultimate sacrifice which the Lord
made for mankind. This tradition makes it so that in the city the whole
day is not overwhelmed by natural feelings of mourning. The Service of
Lamentations for the Lord’s burial on Friday evening brings the
believers out from the various churches to the central square where they
meet with 5 Epitafions and make a procession together around the city.
As this procession continues the city band accompanies the Epitafions
with funeral marches and with melodies from the third stanza of the
Lamentations “All generations...” The procession is followed by
thousands of people as the procession continues around the inner ring of
the city. Finally the five churches separate and go into their own
churches and so closes this mournful and joyful day, where the Cross
passes into the Resurrection and death into life.
The
feast days naturally reach the culmination at midnight on Saturday. The
Metropolitan of Korca, His Grace Joani declared the joyful and
triumphant news of the Resurrection that “Christ is risen from the
dead and by death He has trampled down upon death, and to those in the
tombs He has bestowed life”. He continued saying, “This famous hymn
of the Church proclaims that which we commemorate with such joy – the
conquering of death and the gift of life. We all know and sing this
hymn, but when we repeat something often and don’t stop to think about
its inner meaning and meditate on it, it loses its meaning. If we were
to become more conscientious of this troparion’s meaning, if we were to
become more aware of everyone of its words, then our joy would be beyond
words, our gladness would be ineffable and our life would take on
meaning, hope, and joy.
The
human being is a joining of soul and body and death is the common enemy
of all mankind, because it strikes man in the essence of his being by
separating body and soul and thereby destroying the human person. Every
human strength is powerless before death. No one is saved from death
and that is the last station of every person.
Seen
from this perspective, life would be a sadness and the world a place of
despair. This is how it would be if death were not conquered. This is
how it would be if it weren’t for the Lord. Therefore Pascha is not
only the most important event in the history of creation but its also a
great gladness because the Lord conquered death and made it possible to
regain the integrity of mankind. In overcoming it, He opened the way
for all of us, that in living with Him in this temporary life, we will
win the life without end. So we sing with joy for the conquering of
death and the Resurrection of the Lord.”
On Sunday as is
tradition the Vespers of Love was celebrated, which in Korca is always
held in the church of the Life giving Fount. Later from the balcony of
the Holy Metropolis building, His Grace Metropolitan Joan proclaims once
again the news of the Resurrection which the people of Korca know by the
name “Dhefteri Anastasi”, The Second Resurrection. The day closed with
a reception attended by deputies, local authorities, celebrities of the
arts and culture, academics, and hundreds of believers who with the
greeting “Christ is Risen” took the fatherly blessing of the
Metropolitan Joan. Everything was filled with the greeting “Christ is
Risen”!
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