Christ Is Risen!
Many years ago Archbishop Dmitri, the bishop of Dallas and the South, explained after Agape Vespers that there will be another meal. His Eminance said, "Once we announce the Resurrection of Christ, we start eating and we don't stop."
In the Orthodox Church we are always fasting or feasting. We also believe that our whole lives should be integrated, and not compartmentized. For 40 days before Pascha, we fast. The canons call for abstinence from meat, fish, and dairy products, and on certain days we are permitted wine and oil. There are reasons for this. We are allowed shrimp, crab, and lobster any day during Lent, but here is the catch. We are to eat simply and cheaply and the money that we save from eating simply and cheaply is to be given to the poor. Thus, if you can eat shrimp and lobster cheaply, go ahead.
There were cultural reasons for this. When these canons were written, shrimp, crabs, and lobster were what people fed to their slaves because these seafood products eat off the bottom of the sea. There were not considered fit for human consumption.
Before we eat, of course, the food has to be blessed. Fr. John first blesses all the Pascha baskets and then the food that we eat at the Agape breakfast. The Agape Vespers is later in the afternoon.
I was too busy eating to take many pictures at the Agape breakfast. I also took pictures at the Pascha dinner later that afternoon, but they probably will not be on the site.
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