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("Easter" -> Pascha)
==Pascha: The Resurrection of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ==
The [[Pascha]]l Troparion is sung at each of the daily services until [[Ascension]] Day. At each of the Sunday services the Easter Paschal [[canon]] and [[hymn]]s are repeated. The [[epistle]] readings are taken from the [[Acts of the Apostles]], telling of the first Christians who lived in communion with the Risen Lord, and all of the [[gospel]] readings are taken from the [[Gospel of John]].
Every day during the week of EasterPascha, called [[Bright Week]] , the paschal services are celebrated in all their splendor. The procession is repeated daily. The doors of the sanctuary remain open. A day without end.
==Second Sunday of Pascha: St. Thomas==
The Sunday after Easter Pascha is called the [[Sunday of St. Thomas|Second Sunday]]. It is the eighth day of the Paschal celebration and the last day of Bright Week. It is called the '''Antipascha'''. This Sunday is celebrated in remembrance of the appearance of Christ to the Apostle Thomas "after eight days".
The Church reminds the faithful who have not seen Christ with their physical eyes nor touched his risen body with their physical hands, yet in the Holy Spirit have seen and touched and tasted the Word of Life, and so they believe.
==Fifth Sunday of Pascha: The Samaritan Woman ==
[[Image:Samaritan Woman.JPG|thumbnail|right|The Samaritan Woman]]
The fifth Sunday of Easter Pascha deals with the [[Photine of Samaria|woman of Samaria]] with whom Christ spoke at Jacob's Well from the Gospel of St John (4). Again the theme is the "living water" and the recognition of Jesus as God's Messiah (John 4:10-11; 25-26).
This is a reminded of new life in Christ, of drinking of the "living water," of true worship of God in the Christian messianic age "in Spirit and in Truth" (John 4:23-24). Salvation is offered to all: Jews and Gentiles, men and women, saints and sinners.
