Irmos of the canons usually contain retellings or references to biblical songs - poetic passages from the Old and New Testaments that underlie the structure of the canon7. The Easter canon is no exception, but here each of the themes of the biblical songs is linked to the Resurrection of Christ:
Irmos of the 1st song: “... from death to life, and from earth to Heaven, Christ God has led us, singing in victory” - just as the Israelites were brought out of Egypt and sang a song of victory after crossing the Red Sea (= 1st biblical song, Ex. 15: 1-19), so we are translated by Christ from death to life.
Irmos of the 3rd canto: “Come, let us drink new beer [that is, drink], not from the barren stone the miracle that works, but from the incorruptible fountain that brought forth Christ from the tomb...” - here is an ancient miracle when, during the Israelites’ wanderings in the desert, God, through the prayer of Moses, brought water out of the rock - “the barren stone” (Ex. 17: 1-7) - is compared with how from the stone tomb of Christ flows out like rain, the source of incorruptibility. It is worth noting that, generally speaking, the themes of rain and wandering in the desert correspond not to the 3rd, but to the 2nd canto of the Bible (Deut. 32:1-43)8.
Irmos of the 4th canto: “On divine watch, may the God-speaking Habakkuk stand with us and show a luminous angel, clearly saying: Today... Christ is risen...”, directly refers to the prophet Habakkuk, the author of the 4th biblical canto (Hab.3:2-19). Wed. Hab.2:1: “I stood on my watch and, standing on the tower, watched what He would say in me...” The prophetic vision of Habakkuk is attributed in the irmos to the angel announcing the news of the Resurrection of Christ.
Irmos of the 5th hymn: “Let us morning the deep morning, and instead of peace we will bring a song to the Lady, and we will see Christ, the Sun of Truth...”, contains a paraphrase of the 5th biblical hymn, the prophet Isaiah (Is. 26:9-19): “From the night my spirit will morningen to Thee, O God...” The Slavic word “mornevati” literally means “to gaze intently [during pre-dawn twilight]". Thus, the night performance of the Paschal canon (according to the strict rules, Matins must always be served at night, before dawn) correlates with how the myrrh-bearing women hurried to the tomb of Christ early in the morning: “instead of peace we will bring a song.”
Irmos of the 6th canto: “Thou hast descended into the nether regions of the earth... and thou hast risen for three days, like Jonah from the whale...” - mentions the prophet Jonah, since the 6th biblical canticle belongs to him (Jon. 2: 3-10). According to the Holy Scriptures, Jonah sang it while deep underwater in the belly of a whale. The Paschal canon correlates Jonah's immersion to the bottom of the sea with Christ's descent into hell, and his release from the belly of the whale three days later with the three-day Resurrection of Christ.
Irmos of the 7th canto: “He who delivered the youths from the furnace, having become a man, suffers as if mortal, and with the passion of death he clothes the mortal in incorruptibility with beauty...” - refers to the story of three Jewish youths who were thrown into a fiery furnace by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, but were saved by God. The story of this event, the prayer and song of the youths make up the 7th biblical song (Dan. 3: 26-56). The Irmos emphasizes that the One who once saved the youths from imminent death, Himself accepted suffering in order to clothe mortal nature with the beauty of incorruptibility (“he will clothe beauty in incorruption”).
Irmos of the 8th canto: “This is the appointed and holy day, one is the Sabbath King and Lord, the feast of feasts, and the triumph is the triumph...”, turning to the theme of the 8th biblical canto (Dan. 3: 57-88) only at the very end: “... in it we bless Christ forever,” - otherwise it is built around a quote from St. Gregory the Theologian: “Easter! She is our holiday feast and the triumph of celebrations” (Or. 45. 2).
Irmos of the 9th canto: “Shine, shine, new Jerusalem: for the glory of the Lord has risen upon you, rejoice now, and rejoice, O Zion! But You, Pure One, rejoice, O Theotokos, at the rise of Your Nativity,” glorifying the Mother of God, thereby referring to the Song of the Theotokos (Luke 1:46-55), which is the first part of the 9th biblical canto.