the cathedral. The priests begin a mass which is but Janguidl^^ performed or listened to, till all at once, at the hour of midnight, the whole scene changes. The golden door of the " Ikonostas'' (the middle door of the pictorial wall that separates the Holy of Holies from the rest of the church) flies open, and the song bursts forth, " Christohs vosskress ! Christohs vosskress ills mortvui !" (Chiist is risen, Christ is risen from the dead!) At the same moment the illumination of the church is completed, not only the lamps and great chandelier, but the countless tapers in the hands of the congregation, which have been held liitherto unlighted. Whilst the chief body of priests, still singing " Christohs vosskress," remove the pall with the corse, two others in their richest dress pass through the church with censers in their hands repeating the joyful words, and stopping before the shrine of every saint to swing the censer and make their genuflections, and before every group of devotees to bestow their blessing. The congregation shake hands, and kiss all with whom they have the most distant acquaintance. " Christohs vosskross," says the saluting friend, and " Voyst venno vosskress ?" (Is he really and truly risen ?) answers the saluted. This last sentence appears to be literally that spoken two thousand years ago by the disciples hastening to the empty tomb of Christ, and brings before our eyes in the liveliest manner, the wonder and excitement of the first Christians who handed it down to us. The singing of the priests meanwhile continues. They also embrace each other ; the bishop, metropolitan, or whatever priest of the highest rank may be present, now places himself before the Ikonostas, and bestowi on every member of the congregation who approaches him his blessing and a kiss, with the words " Christohs vosskress." The churches are illuminated without as well as within, and all the bells in the city ring out at once. In St. Petersburg many of the streets and public buildings are illuminated ; rocket after rocket rushes along the sky, and the cannon boom at intervals, amidst all the countless beUs and voices echoing each other from all sides of the broad Neva.
Amid all this tumult, a procession, headed by the priests, all bearing tapers and torches, passes round the church, and then the last ceremony, the blessing of the food, takes place about three o'clock in the morning. The rich who have the means of consecration at hand, do not find it necessary to carry their food to church, and moreover they are sometimes quite content with the species of consecration a good cook bestows, but the poor cannot enjoy their Easter breakfast till it has been blessed by the priest ; — perhaps they have a foreboding how ill it is likely to sit upon the stomach weakened by long fasting.
The spectacle in the chin-ch is most extraordinary. They range all the dishes in long rows through the whole chm'ch, leaving space enough between the rows for the priests to pass, till the increasing numbers compel them to form the lines without the church, and even a good way round. The huge oddly-shaped loaves called KuUtshe, the towers of white cheese, into which I know not how many coloured leaves of spice are interwoven, the former decorated with flowers, the latter bearing a burning w^ax-taper on its summit, the heaps of red coloured eggs, lumps of sugar, pots of honey, plates of preserved fruit, all these painted, illuminated, manycoloured, strange-looking eatables, and collected in such quantities, ha,ve so curious an effect, that one can hardly help supposing the important ceremonies are to end at last in child's play ; one cannot help looking into the faces of the reverend goodies and white-hearded fathers, to see whether they are not masked children who will at last throw off their disguise, and in the midst of all their flowers and fruits, end with a dance in honour of Flora and Pomona. It is not necessary to observe them long, however, to be convinced that these good child-hke people are quite serious in their proceedings. As the priest advances, sprinkling to the right and left, and pronouncing the blessing, while his attendant keeps up a constant chant, the people press closer and closer, crossing themselves and keeping a sharp watch that their flowers and food get their due share of the purifying waters. " Batiushka" is heard here and there, "sdes moi pashka." (Father dear, my Easter dish has got none.) Breathless with haste others come running up, and as they untie the cloth containing their dishes, supplicate a moment's delay from the priest, who is generally good natured enough to comply.