The Great Easter Vigil

Before You Begin

How to Prepare: Before you begin the liturgy, find a comfortable space for yourself and your family to worship together. If you have a cross, icon, candles, or other sacred items, we recommend placing them in your view as you go throughout the liturgy. Consider hosting friends or neighbors around a fire pit outdoors, and participate together. Grab a beverage, maybe some snacks, and settle in for an evening of storytelling and prayer.

What You will Need: Bible, Candles (At least one for the “Christ Candle,” but seven is recommended), and bells, instruments, or some sort of celebratory noisemaker. Due to the service lasting about an hour, candles in holders or jars work best. It is also recommended to have a source of flame for the lighting of the first candle, such as a fireplace or fire pit. Please practice proper fire safety.

How to Engage the Liturgy: It is typical to hold the Vigil in the evening, and much of the symbolism works better then, but you can choose to do this liturgy when you would like. Before you get started, you may want to determine how you will divide up the readings and prayers. You can decide if you want to pray all together or one at a time. Lines have been added for ease of breaking the liturgy up into reading sections. Whenever you see words in bold, these are said by all participants.

The Great Easter Vigil

The Lighting of the Christ Candle

A new fire is lit.

On this most holy night, in which our Lord Jesus passed over from death to life, the Church invites her members, dispersed throughout the world, to gather in vigil and prayer. For this is the Passover of the Lord, in which we share in his victory over death.

Eternal God, who made this most holy night to shine with the brightness of your one true light: sanctify this new fire, we pray, and so set us aflame with the fire of your love, that with pure hearts and kindled affections we may attain to the radiance of your heavenly glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The first candle, which is the Christ Candle, is lit from the new fire.

May the light of Christ, rising in glory, banish all darkness from our hearts and minds.

The Light of Christ;
Thanks be to God

The Easter Proclamation

Rejoice now, heavenly hosts and choirs of angels,
and let your trumpets shout Salvation
for the victory of our mighty King.

Rejoice and sing now, all the round earth,
bright with a glorious splendor, for darkness has been vanquished by our eternal King.

Rejoice and be glad now,
O Church, and let your holy courts, in radiant light,
resound with the praises of your people.

All you who stand near this marvelous and holy flame,
pray with me to God the Almighty for the grace to sing the worthy praise of this great light;
through Jesus Christ his Son our Lord,
who lives and reigns with him,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give him thanks and praise.

It is truly right and good, always and everywhere,
with our whole heart and mind and voice to praise you,
the invisible, almighty, and eternal God,
and your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ our Lord;
who paid for us the debt of Adam’s sin,
and by his blood delivered your faithful people;
for he is the true Paschal Lamb, the very Lamb of God,
whose blood marks the doorposts of believers and makes us holy.

This is the night when you brought our forebears,
the children of Israel, out of bondage in Egypt,
and led them through the Red Sea on dry land.

This is the night when with a pillar of fire
you banished the darkness of our iniquity.

This is the night when all who believe in Christ
are delivered from the gloom of sin,
and are restored to grace and holiness of life.

This is the night when Christ broke the bonds of death and hell,
and rose victorious from the grave.

How wonderful and beyond our knowing, O God,
is your mercy and loving kindness to us,
that to redeem a slave, you gave a Son.

This is the night of which it is written:
the night shall be as bright as the day.

How holy is this night when wickedness is put to flight,
and sin is washed away.
It restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to those who mourn.
It casts out pride and hatred, and brings peace and concord.

The remaining candles are lit.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Ring the bells, play your instruments, jump and shout, wake the neighborhood! Run through the house, turning on every light! Jesus is alive! Death is defeated!

The Prayer of the Vigil

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Let us pray.

O God, you made this most holy night to shine with the glory of the Lord’s resurrection: Stir up in your Church that Spirit of adoption which is given to us in Baptism, that we, being renewed both in body and mind, may worship you in sincerity and truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Good News of the Resurrection

Read Matthew 28:1-10.

After the reading,

God of Life, who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son to the death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection have delivered us from the power of our enemy: grant us so to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his risen life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Blessing

The God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the everlasting covenant, make us perfect in every good work to do his will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among us, and remain with us always. Amen.