At St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church in Jeffersonville, on Holy Saturday morning, Father Konstantinos Loukas stood at the center of the nave and cast bay leaves into the air, marking the First Anastasi.
The leaves fell across the church floor as he moved through the space, a defining moment of the First Resurrection service. Parishioners followed from the pews, some holding small hand bells, as the service broke the stillness of Holy Friday and turned toward Pascha.
It was the first time the community marked this moment with Father Konstantinos as its priest, a beginning observed not in words but in the rhythm of the service itself.
By the end, the leaves remained scattered across the nave, a quiet trace of the shift that had already begun.