Paschal Candle - Description of The Paschal Candle

Description of The Paschal Candle

For congregations that use a Paschal candle it is the largest candle in the worship space. In most cases today the candle will display several common symbols:

  1. The cross is always the central symbol, most clearly identifying it as the Paschal candle
  2. The Greek letters alpha and omega signify that God is the beginning and the end (from the Book of Revelation)
  3. The current year represents God in the present amidst the congregation
  4. Five grains of incense (most often red) are embedded in the candle (sometimes encased in wax "nails") during the Easter Vigil to represent the five wounds of Jesus: one in each hand, one in each foot, and the spear thrust into his side.

In the mediaeval church Paschal candles often reached a stupendous size. The Paschal candle of Salisbury Cathedral was said to have been 36 feet tall. Today, in the United States and Southern Europe (e.g., Italy and France) the candle is approximately 2 inches in diameter and 36 to 48 inches tall; in Northern Europe the candle tends to be shorter in height (19 to 24 inches) and wider in diameter (3 to 5 inches).

Read more about this topic:  Paschal Candle

Famous quotes containing the words description of the, description of, description and/or candle:

    Why does philosophy use concepts and why does faith use symbols if both try to express the same ultimate? The answer, of course, is that the relation to the ultimate is not the same in each case. The philosophical relation is in principle a detached description of the basic structure in which the ultimate manifests itself. The relation of faith is in principle an involved expression of concern about the meaning of the ultimate for the faithful.
    Paul Tillich (1886–1965)

    The Sage of Toronto ... spent several decades marveling at the numerous freedoms created by a “global village” instantly and effortlessly accessible to all. Villages, unlike towns, have always been ruled by conformism, isolation, petty surveillance, boredom and repetitive malicious gossip about the same families. Which is a precise enough description of the global spectacle’s present vulgarity.
    Guy Debord (b. 1931)

    It [Egypt] has more wonders in it than any other country in the world and provides more works that defy description than any other place.
    Herodotus (c. 484–424 B.C.)

    And she tried to fancy what the flame of a candle looks like after the candle is blown out, for she could not remember ever having seen such a thing.
    Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)