The Greek Catholic parish in Dublin follows the old calendar and just celebrated Pascha. Archimandrite Serge just gave me permission to share this account of Pascha in Dublin:

Holy Week and Pascha in Dublin - 2002

This is the fourth year that the Greek-Catholic Congregation in
Dublin has observed Holy Week and Pascha with divine services here. The
services themselves, of course, do not change from year to year - in fact,
the congregation is still using service-booklets prepared in 1999 and 2000.
Nevertheless, each Holy Week and Pascha is unique.
Every year, the Greek-Catholic Congregation invites a guest priest
to come to Dublin for the holy days, to hear Confessions, to assist Father
Archimandrite Serge with the divine services, and in general to provide
some contact with the wider world, since ours is the only Eastern Catholic
community of any description in Ireland. This year, through the good
offices of the Greek-Catholic Theological Academy in L'viv, Father Orest
Mokryk came to Dublin from 25 April through 9 May. Obtaining the Irish visa
was difficult, especially in view of the need for accurate timing; the
Greek-Catholic Congregation is particularly grateful to all those who
helped with prayerful support and those in the Irish government who acted
expeditiously to enable Father Orest to come to us. It was a near thing;
the Irish consulate in Kiev granted Father Orest his visa only on the
afternoon of 24 April; Father then flew back to L'viv and took the bus to
the airport in Cracow, arriving just in time for the morning flight from
Cracow to London and his connecting flight from London to Dublin, where he
arrived that afternoon. It was a Thursday; Father Archimandrite collected
Father Orest at Dublin airport and took him at once to Rathgar, where the
Brothers of Saint John of God most generously provided Father Orest with a
private apartment for his fortnight's stay in Dublin. This was also
convenient, because the Brothers complex in Rathgar is close to Father
Archimandrite's own house, so traveling back and forth to the Pro-Cathedral
for the daily service was not too complicated.
Meanwhile, there had already been many preparations for the Holy
Days. What proved to be a crucial decision came early in the same week of
Father Orest's arrival: the Very Reverend Father John Delaney,
Administrator of the Pro-Cathedral, kindly offered to allow the midnight
service of Pascha itself to take place, not in Saint Kevin's Oratory where
the Greek-Catholic services are normally held, but in the large main church
of the Pro-Cathedral itself. With this arrangement, there would be ample
room for all the worshippers. After thinking about the practicalities for a
day or so, Father Administrator and Father Archimandrite agreed that this
would be done. Besides the already-printed schedules of Holy Week services
(which the congregation makes available in English, in Irish, in Russian
and in Ukrainian), a fresh one-page leaflet was printed, announcing that
the Paschal midnight service would take place in the main church of the
Pro-Cathedral. Several delicatessens catering to the Eastern Europeans in
Dublin, in Limerick, in Cork and in Tralee undertook to distribute these
leaflets.
On the Friday night before Lazarus Saturday, there was Divine
Liturgy of Presanctified Gifts, and a dozen or so of the faithful came to
take part in the service and to meet Father Orest, who thus already had
Confessions to hear. There was Divine Liturgy on Lazarus Saturday and
Father Orest heard more Confessions.
Also on Lazarus Saturday Father Archimandrite managed to obtain 100
pussy willow stalks from the only garden center in Dublin which carries
them. Fortunately the owner is a strong, practicing Catholic and every year
sells the pussy willows to us at a very favourable rate. Palms are of
course available, but the Eastern European faithful expect pussy willows,
and would feel that something was missing without them.
On Palm Sunday, there was a very large attendance at the Divine
Liturgy; Father Orest began hearing Confessions about an hour early and
only finished in time to receive Holy Communion himself (there were 115
people to Holy Communion; it was not possible to count the number who did
not receive Communion). There was also a Baptism, which was rather cheerful
(unusually, the neophyte was a four-year-old boy named Kevin Orlov, born in
Dublin of parents from Odessa).
Great Monday and Great Tuesday there was Divine Liturgy of
Presanctified Gifts; each evening Father Orest heard more Confessions but,
as one would anticipate, those two days did not attract impressive numbers
of faithful (one problem is that many of the parishioners are working
during the evening hours). On Great Wednesday, a more substantial number
came for the final Presanctified and the Mystery of the Holy Oil, and also
to Confession. Father Orest had never previously experienced the Mystery of
the Holy Oil as it is done on Great Wednesday, but admired both the beauty
of the Sacrament and the evident devotion of the faithful, and plans to try
this celebration in his own parish in Ukraine [one sometimes hears the
objection that the Mystery of the Holy Oil lends itself to an avoidance of
Holy Penance, but this is certainly not the case in Dublin, because
everyone, without exception, who came for the Holy Oil also came to
Confession during Holy Week]. Also on Great Tuesday, Mr. and Mrs. Brian
Ramsey flew to Athens to represent the Dublin congregation for the Holy
Week and Pascha services at Holy Trinity Greek-Catholic Cathedral in
Athens. On Great Wednesday a family from Izium (near Kharkiv) now living in
Castleknock hosted Father Archimandrite and Father Orest to a traditional
Lenten dinner in their home
Numbers increased again, albeit moderately, for the Vespers and
Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil on Holy Thursday, and more so for the Orthros
of the Passion Gospels, although both services together take a full four
hours. Again, there were Confessions.
Good Friday, of course, is a working day, but nevertheless Royal
Hours and Vespers with the entombment of the Holy Shroud took place as
usual on Good Friday afternoon. On Good Friday evening there was the
"Funeral of Christ" Orthros of Holy Saturday with the outdoor Procession.
The Dublin faithful come to church in good numbers for this service; this
year many of the children came.
Holy Saturday morning was taken up with errands (including
collecting the eggs to be dyed red for the Paschal service); Holy Saturday
afternoon was taken up with Vespers and the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil -
with a Baptism, which is quite appropriate for this service. After the
Divine Liturgy a group of the men dismantled the icon-screen and brought
our liturgical equipment upstairs to the main church of the Pro-Cathedral.
By 10 PM the icon-screen was erected in front of the high Altar of
the Pro-Cathedral (it fits beautifully, which is good to know since
Patriarch Gregory III of Antioch is to serve there this coming September).
As soon as Father Archimandrite and Father Orest arrived, just after 10 PM,
Father Orest was besieged with last-minute penitents; Father continued to
hear Confessions until shortly after midnight.
We had anticipated that at most about 200 people would be likely to
attend the midnight Resurrection Orthros and Divine Liturgy. We were
mistaken; the entire main section of the block-long nave was completely
filled. The Pro-Cathedral sacristan (who remained for the entire service
and was of great help to us) is experienced at the numbers which the
Pro-Cathedral accommodates; he tells us that the congregation was about 500
people. It proved necessary to lengthen the route we had planned for the
midnight Procession. Many of the faithful brought baskets for the
traditional blessing of Paschal foods which followed the Divine Liturgy.
Two of the delicatessens catering to Eastern Europeans made generous gifts
of the Paschal foods to the congregation, so that we had food which
everyone could share. We prepared about 350 red eggs for blessing and
distribution; there were none left at all and we could have used more.
Father Archimandrite greeted the assembly before the dismissal and remarked
that in 1999 about 25 people had attended the midnight Paschal service, so
it was most encouraging to see this fine congregation.
As usual the service was sung in several languages, including
Greek, Church-Slavonic, Ukrainian, Romanian and of course Irish.
The Divine Liturgy ended at about 3:00 AM; most people remained to
socialize and share the blessed food for a while. At 4:00 AM the sacristan
closed the Pro-Cathedral, but the parish work team remained to move the
icon-screen and other equipment, and generally put everything into order so
that the Sunday Masses would not be inconvenienced.
Sunday afternoon at 4:00 PM there was Paschal Vespers; Father Orest
served and preached. We were back in Saint Kevin's Oratory, with a
congregation of about 75 faithful. Father Archimandrite and Father Orest
were then invited to dinner in two different homes - fortunately the two
houses are close to one another, so the priests attended both dinners,
together with Edward Yong, a Greek-Catholic from Singapore who is studying
in London and usually comes to Dublin for Pascha.
Bright Monday was also the feast of Saint George the Great Martyr
(the patron of Saint George's Cathedral in L'viv, Ukraine). Saint Kevin's
was well filled for the Resurrection Orthros and Divine Liturgy, followed
by another Paschal table. This was Father Orest's last actual divine
service with the Dublin congregation, but we all hope that he will be able
to return to us for another occasion sometime.
Monday afternoon Father Archimandrite and Father Orest, and two of
the Irish parishioners, were dinner guests of a young Breton member of the
Greek-Catholic congregation who proved to be an outstanding chef and an
excellent host.
Father Orest is to be the guest of honour at a reception for all
the faithful, which will be held on Bright Wednesday evening at the
Franciscan Church of Adam and Eve (no, that is not a typographical error -
there is such a church in Dublin, and it is of considerable historic
importance), so that everyone may have a chance to meet him and speak with
him informally. In his short visit here, he has done a great deal for us,
and we all wish to thank him. But most of all, we thank Almighty God for
the abundance of blessings this Holy Week and Pascha have brought us. We
also thank God for the prayers and moral support of our many friends in
various countries, and we assure you that we remember you as we trust you
remember us.

TÁ CRÍOST AISÉIRITHE GO FÍOR!

Dear Friend,

Thank you for sharing that and give Fr. Serge my best, if he remembers me!

Pussy willows are the "palm" of choice of the Slavs for a very important reason.

The symbolism of the opening buds of the pussy willows recalls to us the Resurrection of Christ and so we use them rather than palm and olive branches.

Pussy willows are also glued together to make three bar Crosses that are then hung in one's icon corner for the rest of the year.

Alex

XPICTOC BOCKPECE!

Wooo hooo... I got an honourable mention!!! Now if only Fr Serge mentioned my helping him sing all the time too :p

In Domino,

Edward
(who needs prayers for his exams!)