The orthodox midnight Service and Easter (Pascal) Liturgy starts in a darkened church. The church is in full darkness representing the darkness of the Tomb and the Hades. Before midnight the priest holds a lit Pascal candle and come forward from the Royal door and people approach him to receive light from that candle to their candles.

This represents the Prophecy of Prophet Isaiah who said The land of Zebulon, and the land of Nephtalim, the people that sat in the darkness, have seen a great light " (Isaiah IX: 1,2). This light it has been seen also when He descended to Hades and resurrected all the righteous. According the Apocrypha Gospel of Nicodemus Chapter II (18).

Miraculously this Holy light descends every year from heaven on Holy Saturday afternoon, at the original sight of the Tomb of Christ in Jerusalem. And the flame for 33 seconds does not burn you when you put your hand on the flame.

People take their candles and light them for the Resurrection Proclamation.

"In Christ was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines, and the Darkness has not overcome it." God's light shines in the darkness and cannot be put out. God has come into the world in Jesus Christ and has met the full force of sin and death and has won them in victory. This is the heart of the Orthodox Christian Faith.

References by Archdiocese of America, Monachos and the V. Rev. Archimandrite Alexander Kile.