Orthodox Christians celebrate Orthodox Easter 2022
Orthodox Christians in Europe, Africa and the Middle East celebrated Orthodox Easter on Sunday. But for those living in Ukraine, the holiest day on the Christian calendar has been muted due to conflict this year.
Like a Ukrainian entering the ninth week of the war with RussiaMuch of the Orthodox Christian population there marked the holiday with prayers for those on the front lines and those trapped in besieged cities like Mariupol.
Residents of rural villages ravaged by war approached the holiday with some challenges.
Kateryna Lazarenko, 68, from the northern village of Ivanivka, on the outskirts of Chernihiv, said: “We will celebrate Easter no matter what, no matter how horror, where the The destroyed Russian tank is still lying on the road.
Orthodox Easter, commonly known as “Greek Easter”, is celebrated by Eastern Christians to mark the resurrection of Jesus Christ and usually includes painted eggs, Traditional symbolic foods such as lamb and church services. Here is more information about the holy day observed by millions of people around the globe:
When is Orthodox Easter?
The Eastern Orthodox Church follows the Julian calendar, first proposed by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, instead of the Gregorian calendar adopted by Catholic Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. This means a holiday. usually falls later than Easter Sunday in the Western Christian tradition.
Orthodox Easter can sometimes fall at the same time as Western Easter, the last time being in 2017 when both celebrations take place on April 16. But it won’t happen again for to 2025.
Many spring religious holidays have arrived at later dates than usual this year: Passover doesn’t begin until the evening of April 15and Easter Sunday falls on April 17 for the first time in 62 years.
Who celebrates Orthodox Easter?
Orthodox Christians in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East celebrate Easter on the following day, which is determined by the older Julian calendar.
Although the holiday usually falls on a date other than Easter Sunday, both Christian festivals celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and are the most important days in their respective religious calendars.
Greek Orthodox Easter marks the end of the “Great Lent,” a 40-day period of fasting from Clean Monday. until “Pascha”, Easter Sunday.
Most of the 260 million Orthodox Christians in the world live in Central and Eastern Europeand an additional 15% live in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a 2015-16 Pew Research Center study.
Russia, Ethiopia and Ukraine have the largest Orthodox populations in the nation, and the country with the highest percentage of Orthodox Christians is Moldova, at 95 percent, according to the Pew Research Center, according to the Pew Research Center. .
About 78% of Ukrainian adults are identified as Orthodox Christianity through the survey, while Russian adults are about 71% Orthodox Christianity.
How was Easter celebrated by the Greeks?
According to Greek tradition, Orthodox Easter is marked by a church service followed by a large family meal, which often includes roast lamb as the main dish to symbolize the sacrifice of Christ. Celebrants also dye boiled eggs red to commemorate the blood of Christ.
Slavic countries often eat Kulich, a pastry made to celebrate Easter and the coming spring. Traditionally, it is blessed by a priest before it is eaten.
Around the world this year, different countries celebrated the holiday with different events.
In Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison take part in a Greek Orthodox Easter service in Sydney with Greece’s Culture Minister, Lina Mendoni, on Saturday night, according to the Greek Reporter.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are scheduled to visit Kyiv on Sunday, in the highest-level visit to Ukraine by an American delegation since Russia began its invasion.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians not to let anger over the war overwhelm them at a service in Kyiv this weekend.
“We all believe our sunrise will come soon,” he said.
Contribution: Associated Press