Easter Day is the summit and source of the entire Christian year. On this day the Church proclaims that Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate and laid in the tomb, rose bodily from the dead on the third day, according to the Scriptures. Every other feast in the calendar derives its meaning from this central mystery: without the Resurrection, the Incarnation would be merely a tragedy and the Cross merely a defeat.

The appointed Gospel from Saint John carries the worshipper to the garden tomb on the first day of the week, where Mary Magdalene discovers the stone rolled away and, through her tears, is met by the Risen Lord, who speaks her name. The appointed Epistle from Saint Paul to the Colossians draws out the consequence for all the baptised: those who are risen with Christ are to seek the things that are above and to set their minds on things eternal, because their life is now hidden with Christ in God.

The 1928 Book of Common Prayer appoints the Easter Collect — a prayer that God who has overcome death and opened the gate of everlasting life would put good desires into our minds and bring them to good effect — to be said daily throughout Easter Week. In this way the Prayer Book extends the triumph of the Resurrection across the full octave and bids the faithful dwell in the mystery of new life not merely for a single day, but as the animating reality of a renewed creation.