Post-Easter Slump

Or, how to get back in the saddle after the excitement of the Holy Week.

Yesterday, I recorded a video on the topic of experiencing a slump after Easter for my social media channels:

Have you experienced this? Especially if you are an Orthodox Christian, the time after Easter (or Pascha, as it is called in my husband’s Greek Orthodox Church) can be a real downer, both physically and spiritually.

In a couple of prior Substack posts, I wrote about the busyness of Lent and Holy Week. Since being received into the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch in January 2023, I have truly treasured this season when our souls and bodies prepare for the glorious celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord.

Every prayer and every church service helps me with introspection, fasting, and prayer. I seek opportunities to give alms beyond the ordinary giving. My body, mind, and soul are on high alert and ready to hear from the Lord.

I may be alone here, but I truly look forward to the strict fasting during Lent. My spiritual father and I spoke about what happens when we fast; I find this true: the emptier the stomach, the more time I want to have with the Lord in prayer. When stuffed with a regular diet of meat, dairy, cookies, and other snacks, we can lose the hunger for God.

So then comes Easter Sunday (or Pascha), and suddenly all the godly busyness ends. In my case, I wound up being sick for almost two weeks, but that is not what caused the emptiness that I and others I have talked to or heard from are feeling.

A manuscript illumination from the 13th century from the Church of the Forty Martyrs in Mardin.

Father Jeffrey Frate discussed this topic in a Q&A session with his parish this past Saturday at St. George Orthodox here in Prescott, AZ. He reminded us there is a good reason why (what is called in the Greek Orthodox Church) Thomas Sunday follows right after Easter/Pascha: our doubts may hit as hard as they did for St. Thomas when he wasn't there to see the risen Christ with his fellow apostles.

We celebrate Christ’s Resurrection with our whole hearts, but then suddenly, doubt sets in whether He really meant to save and forgive us, too. Is that really our reality? Our everyday life sets in, and we face the assault of our senses (and sins) again. And with it, the laser-sharp focus on Christ of the lead-up to Easter is taken off.

In our Syriac Orthodox churches, we hear the exact Gospel text from John 20 on New Sunday about “Doubting Thomas,” as St. Thomas has come to be known.

24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, who is called the Twin, " was not there with them when Jesus came.
25 "We have seen our Lord!" the disciples told him. But he said to them, "Unless I see the places of the nails in his hands and put my fingers into them, and reach my hand into his side, I will not believe." 26 Eight days later, the disciples were inside again and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were shut, Jesus came, stood in the middle of them, and said to them, "Slama be with you." 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put out your hand and reach into my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe." 28 Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Now that you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen me and have believed."

- John 20:24-29, Peshitta, Syriac English New Testament

Why can we feel the way St. Thomas did? Why does the time after Easter leave a hole in our hearts and souls? For me, much of this has to do with the disruption in my standard prayer rule. On every other day, I know when I should be praying and when I should be reading my Bible. Each one of us has a different prayer rule that you probably agreed to with your spiritual father, but most of us pray morning and night at a minimum.

During Lent and Holy Week, my worship time is more regulated by my time in church. Many times, my morning and night prayers now happen at church, rather than in my home icon corner where I normally pray. Welcome to the Speliopoulos prayer corner in the short video above! So what you see in the video isn’t happening as much, especially during Holy Week, right before Easter. Instead, it is consumed by church attendance with prayer and worship there rather than by myself.

And herein lies the answer to my own question: I have to get back to the routine of prayer that I have every other day of the year. I have to get back to reading the Scriptures every day on my own, rather than having them read to me from the front of the church. If you want to call it that, it is a function of having stepped out of my discipline.

Very similar to having gone to the gym with great regularity three times a week and for walks most of the remaining weekdays, and then having stepped out of that routine to fulfill other obligations and gained weight and fat, I am now finding it hard to get back to my spiritual gym to get trim again!

Just two days ago, in my reading of St. Jacob of Serugh in preparation for an academic paper I have to give at a conference in Rome in June, I stumbled across this gem that reminded me to get back to Him Who alone matters with all effort and intent:

You are wealth, Lord, a treasury, and a treasure for whoever seeks you;
blessed is the one who does not possess anything except you.
Anyone who needs but one loaf of daily bread
is much richer than the wealthiest people of the whole world.
If someone possesses the whole world but does not possess you,
he is very poor, needy, despicable, and full of woes.
Except in you, the soul is not made to see, and it is illumined
when it possesses you and hates the world and its deeds.
All the riches, all the treasuries, all the blessings,
all the gold of the whole world is poverty.¹

St. Jacob of Serugh (d. 521), also called “The Flute of the Holy Spirit”

These words greatly encouraged me not to allow this slump or drift to continue for one day longer. My spiritual father has often pointed me to a reading that tells of joy in prayer coming as we pray, whether we feel like it or not. I find this to be very true. Just like I felt so much better about my body when I went to the gym several days a week, my soul feels refreshed and in His presence when I pray and read my Bible regularly.

I encourage you to join me on this spiritual wellness journey! Also, if you have any other tips to stay on track after the joyful celebration of the Lord’s resurrection, please add them below!

1. Jacob, and Sebastian P. Brock. 2021. Mimro 168: On That Saying Which Our Lord Said, "The Kingdom of Heaven Is like a Treasure Hidden in a Field" in Selected Metrical Homilies. Edited by Armando Elkhoury and Robert A. Kitchen. Washington, DC: The Hidden Pearl Press.