In the 1549 Book of Common Prayer, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer appointed the Pascha Nostrum to replace the Venite on Easter Day and throughout the Octave. This beautiful hymn is a declaration of our participation in the Paschal Mystery: Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, and we, joined with Him in Holy Baptism, are called to keep the Feast. The verses of the Pascha Nostrum speak of what Christ has accomplished once for all, and of the new life into which the faithful are continually drawn—dead to sin, alive unto God, and sustained by the Real Presence of Our Lord.
CHRIST our Passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 1 Cor. v. 7.
CHRIST being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom. vi. 9.
CHRIST is risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1 Cor. xv. 20 Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Listen to the Pascha Nostrum chanted by the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles.
Note: Introductory paragraph above adapted from “Brief, but Beautiful: a Meditation on the Pascha Nostrum”