Orthodox Christians Celebrate Easter

AP ^ | 4/26/2003 | JAMES C. HELICKE

[a_Turk]

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, led worshippers in a candlelight procession early Sunday to celebrate Easter.

A dimmed Cathedral of St. George slowly became brighter as Bartholomew lit the candles of worshippers to represent the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

"Christ is risen," Bartholomew said, with bells ringing in celebration.

In his annual Easter message, Bartholomew said the resurrection offered humanity hope for peace in a world beset by bloodshed and hatred.

"May the Risen Lord heal all brokenness of contemporary humanity and grant peace and life to all human beings, removing all hatred and bloodshed, and exchanging them with peaceful cooperation for the good of all," Bartholomew said in Greek.

Bartholomew also warned those in power against seeking to dominate others. The patriarch had repeatedly spoken out in favor of a peaceful solution to the standoff in Iraq (news - web sites).

"There have been many who destroyed prosperous empires in their desire to make them greater, many who became self-destructive in setting before them aims of conceited pride ... many who destroyed others in their desire to lord and dominate over them," he said.

More than 1,000 people, including many from neighboring Greece, packed into the church.

Bartholomew, a Turkish citizen, directly controls several Greek Orthodox churches around the world, including the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. He is also considered the spiritual leader of 14 autonomous Orthodox churches, including those of Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Russia and Serbia.

Turkey only recognizes him as head of its dwindling Greek Orthodox community.

"Here is the heart of the Orthodox Church," said Chris Zorbas, a 30-year-old graphic-designer from Athens.

The patriarchate has had its seat in Constantinople, today's Istanbul, since the time of the Greek Orthodox Byzantine Empire.

On Friday — Good Friday according to the Orthodox Church — Bartholomew participated in two services at the icon-adorned Cathedral of St. George, symbolically first taking Jesus from the cross and, later, marking his funeral.

Most Catholics and Protestants follow a different liturgical calendar and celebrated Easter on April 20.

[a_Turk]

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, holds candles as he conducts the Easter Resurrection Service at the Patriarchal Cathedral of St. George in Istanbul, Turkey, late Saturday April 26, 2003. Patriarch Bartholomew I said that Easter's message of the resurrection of Jesus Christ offered humanity hope for peace in a world characterized by bloodshed and hatred.


Orthodox worshippers hold candles as they pray during the Easter Resurrection Service at the Patriarchal Cathedral of St. George in the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarchate in Istanbul, Turkey, early Sunday


Orthodox worshippers hold candles as they pray during the Easter Resurrection Service at the Patriarchal Cathedral of St. George in the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarchate in Istanbul, Turkey, early Sunday April 27, 2003


Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, center, conducts the Easter Resurrection Service at the Patriarchal Cathedral of St. George in Istanbul, Turkey, early Sunday April 27, 2003.


Greek Cypriots attend Orthodox Easter mass in the monastery of Apostolos Andreas in the Turkish occupied area of Cyprus Saturday, April 26, 2003. The mass, which was the first Easter one there since 1974, was held in the afternoon as the worshipers had to be back in the Greek-Cypriot controlled area before midnight. WOW! Why ain't it destroyed? The inept Turks musta overlooked it..


A Greek Cypriot attends Orthodox Easter mass in the monastery of Apostolos Andreas in the Turkish occupied area of Cyprus Saturday, April 26, 2003.


An Orthodox Christian worshipper scuffles with police as he prevented from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City, April 26, 2003, which Christians believe is built on the site of Jesus' last resting place after his body was removed from the cross. Israeli police tightened up security around the church in fear of violence between rival Greek Orthodox and Armenian clergy over who would conduct the ceremony.


An Orthodox Christian worshipper cries as she is prevented from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City, which Christians believe is built on the site of Jesus' last resting place after his body was removed from the cross, April 26, 2003

[a_Turk]

ping

[MarMema]

I send you love and Paschal greetings.
Thank you for this post.
Ping to other EO Christians...

[DTA]

Thanx for posting this.

[DTA]

Ping !!!

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, led worshippers in a candlelight procession early Sunday to celebrate Easter.

[MarMema]

Almost time.....

[MarMema]

[MarMema]

With Rituals and Feasts, Queens Comes Alive During Orthodox Easter
By COREY KILGANNON

Most Christians packed away their baskets, bonnets and bunnies a week ago. But today Eastern Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter, a date determined by the Julian calendar and the first full moon after the spring equinox. Astoria, Queens, with its large population of Greek-Americans, has become the site of one of the world's largest celebrations of this Orthodox holiday known as Pascha, the culmination of 40 days of fasting and a solemn week that includes an elaborate reenactment of the last days of Christ's life.

Congregants gathered for midnight services last night at the community's four large Eastern Orthodox churches — St. Irene, St. Demetrios, St. Catherine and St. George, and St. Markella. Afterward there were all-night feasts and parties, followed today by traditional family meals with baby lambs roasting on outdoor rotisseries.

The main outdoor festivities took place Friday night with ornate street processions, called epitaphios, which re-enact Christ's burial march. After a service at each church, the symbolic body of Christ, fashioned out of bundled sheets, was taken down from a cross and placed in a makeshift tomb the size of a compact car, which was draped with an ornate tapestry and adorned with thousands of flowers. The tomb was then carried from each church on the shoulders of a dozen men and paraded through the neighborhood before returning to the church for a closing ceremony.

"Supposedly the body of Jesus is inside," said Steven Stasinos, 57, standing on the curb next to a parking meter as the tomb from St. Irene went by. His wife, Georgia, made the sign of the cross. "Little girls build it with flowers all day, only little girls," Mrs. Stasinos said of the tomb.

As the procession passed, priests chanted in ancient Greek, brass bands played slow dirges, incense filled the air and congregants marched solemnly, holding tall candles.

Little girls in white satin robes grabbed handfuls of flower petals from their white Easter baskets and tossed them on the street. Images of the gilded icon portraits of the saints were everywhere, and gray-bearded bishops wearing robes of the Byzantine Empire marched under the elevated subway tracks, oblivious to the roar of the N train rumbling by.

The church processions were not far from Astoria's commercial hub, and hundreds of people gathered at Lefkos Pyrgos Café on 31st Avenue to buy sweet tsureki bread and watch the procession from St. Irene. A man with a large wreath hung around his neck with chicken wire came by, then a black-robed woman banging a piece of wood with a hammer, and then the elaborate tomb made of white carnations.

"This is the cross Christ was crucified on," said Theofanis Papantonis, a 23-year-old seminary student who carried a tall cross. "Not the original one, but symbolically. The writing up there. It's not the initials your cross has. It says `King of Glory,' basically meaning that his death was for us and that life will come out of death."

After the service, churchgoers walked home past a neighborhood fixture who calls himself "Cadillac Man," a homeless Vietnam veteran who sleeps under a nearby bridge and has been adopted by the local Greek community. He had figured out how to draw up a sign that bore the Greek words for Happy Easter, and he greeted churchgoers with the few Greek phrases he knows.

Many responded by handing him cash donations.

"These are beautiful people," said the man. "They feed me, they clothe me, they give me money."

On Ditmars Boulevard, brawny men carried the floral tomb to St. Markellas. One of them, Marinis Papaeliou, pointed at the tomb, which had a shroud inside that was woven by nuns in a convent in Greece. "That's the body in there," Mr. Papaeliou said. "It takes a lot of girls to make it and a lot of men to carry it."

It began to rain, and a man struggled to hold a small umbrella over Archbishop Pavlos Stratigeas, who was wearing a jeweled crown.

At the church gate, the men placed the tomb across the entrance. According to church tradition, the tomb is set barely five feet off the ground so most worshipers must duck under it to feel Christ's suffering.

The priests took the symbolic body and shroud from the tomb and carried them to the altar, to prepare for today's resurrection.

After the closing service, Archbishop Stratigeas removed his crown. "Pascha is the soul of the Greek people," he said. "It is about Christ victimizing death, vanquishing it through resurrection and about our own personal crucifixions."

[MarMema]

Faithful celebrate Orthodox Easter
Culminates with liturgy tonight. End of 5-week Lenten period celebrated with rich meals of lamb, ham and breads

Saturday, April 26, 2003

CREDIT: RICHARD ARLESS JR, THE GAZETTE

Altar boys Theo Harry Sapouridis, 10, and Tom Condax, 13, ready themselves for the procession at St. Michael the Archangel Greek

Montreal's Eastern Orthodox Christian community - Greeks, Ukrainians, Russians, Serbians, and Romanians - are observing their Holy Week a week after western Christians do.

Marathon liturgies and candlelight processions yesterday marked Orthodox Good Friday, when the faithful believe Jesus carried a cross through the streets and was crucified.

The spiritual focus today is one of quiet mourning, solemn meditation and strict fasting, recalling Jesus's entombment.

Pascha, or Easter, will be celebrated at midnight tonight.

The two Christian communities - Orthodox and Western rite - observe Easter vigils on different days each year because they follow different calendars.

Orthodox churches rely on lunar cycles to fix the date for Easter. The rest of the Christian world accepts the Gregorian calendar introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582.

Orthodox worship culminates in a three-hour midnight service tonight when believers celebrate the resurrection. Their faith teaches that Jesus rose from the dead three days after he was put to death.

Tonight's services mark the the end of five weeks of Lenten restrictions, and are usually followed by rich meals of lamb, ham, sausage and festive breads - including Greek trinity bread, Russian kulich bread and Ukrainian babka.

The breads are especially symbolic because they are made of wheat flour, an ancient symbol of the resurrection, and from eggs, a symbol of life.

There are 11 major Orthodox churches in Montreal, serving about 100,000 believers. The differences among them are ethnic or linguistic, not theological.

[MenckenWasRight]

In the Orthodox world, things grow.
In the West, things are grown.

Christos Voskres!

[MarMema]

A Russian Orthodox priest sprinkles Easter cakes and eggs with holy water in the town of Krasnogorsk, Russia, outside Moscow, Saturday, April 26, 2003. Russian Orthodox believers will celebrate Easter on Sunday

[Cleburne]

Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!
Christ is Risen, and the evil ones are cast down!
Christ is Risen, and the angels rejoice!
Christ is Risen, and life is liberated!
Christ is Risen, and the tomb is emptied of its dead;
for Christ having risen from the dead,
is become the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

To Him be Glory and Power forever and ever. Amen!

[a_Turk]

Sure :))

[MarMema]

Russia Orthodox priest Father Sergyi watches church bakery worker Evdokia Maslova, left, take communion bread out of an oven in a church bakery in the Ural city of Yekaterinburg, Friday, April 25, 2003. Traditional Easter cakes are seen at right. Orthodox Easter will be celebrated on Sunday, April 27.

[MarMema]

Greek Orthodox pilgrims dressed in white smocks come out of the river after dipping under the water before being blessed by priests in the River Jordan during an Easter baptism ceremony Tuesday April 22, 2003. Hundreds of Christians from Greece and Russia took part in a baptism service in the River Jordan on Tuesday, to mark Holy Tuesday of the Greek Orthodox Easter week.

[MarMema]

Russian President Vladimir Putin puts the candle in Nicholas Cathedral Orthodox church in Dushanbe, Saturday April 26, 2003, as he celebrates the Orthodox Easter during his working visit to Tajikistan.

[eleni121]

You - a Muslim - I pray for. I pray that the truth of the Redeemer, Jesus Christ, will save you and your countrymen from the cult of islam.

Xristos Anesti

[MarMema]

Christian-Orthodox worshippers perform the Holy Fire ceremony April 26, 2003 inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City, which Christian faithful believe is built on the site of Jesus' last resting place after his body was removed from the cross. The fire is first taken from inside the tomb and then rapidly spreads throughout the ancient church as the faithful light each other's candles.

[a_Turk]

Love you too, Eleni..

[MarMema]

Pray for me as well, elenil, as I am a sinner.

While a_turk has always been respectful, kind, and loving toward/about Orthodox Christians here on FR, I regret to say that I have not always been kind in speaking of muslims. I am grateful to call him my friend.

[eleni121]

I am grateful to call him (ATURK)my friend.

Goody for you. You remind me of an apologist for the Communists during the cold war...you know the "live together peacefully and harmoniously crowd"...while they - the Communists and now the Muslims are butchering innocents.

[MarMema]

Christ is Risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.

A most Holy and Blessed Pascha to you, my brother in Christ!
God help me, tonight I carry the cross in our Paschal procession.

[MarMema]

From the Paschal Message of Metropolitan Herman, 2003.

"My beloved brothers and sisters in the risen Lord: The invitation to follow Christ is an invitation that the world desperately needs in these times of uncertainty and calamity. We are facing events and forces that, while indeed powerful, so often appear to be out of control. Many are struggling to find even a glimmer of hope in a world that at times seems to be so preoccupied with itself that it has little interest in forgiveness or compassion or love, much less a recognition that the eternal Kingdom of the risen Christ is in its midst. And with so many forces demanding a following, Christ's invitation to follow Him into the never-ending day of His Kingdom can easily go undiscovered. Yet it is up to us --to those who know that there is more to life than what appears on the front pages of tomorrow's tabloid -- to proclaim the risen Lord with renewed boldness and fervor. For indeed, as Saint Paul reminds us, if Christ is not risen from the dead, our faith and preaching are in vain. If we fail to proclaim the risen Lord and His Kingdom, who will?"

Eleni, death and suffering in this world are not only a given but guaranteed. To expect good in this life is to court despair. Set your eyes on the ONE who IS HOLY and seek the experience of Christ. Your cynicism and despair are the delight of the demons.

May you discover the depths of His love, and follow our risen Lord into His Kingdom.

[MarMema]

sin is nothing more than failure to develop relationships of love between ourselves, others, and God

[ffusco]

What a beautiful sentiment.
a_Turk has always been gracious under fire and a good conversationalist.

Buona Pasqua to all!

[Chairman Fred]

Xristos anesti ek Nekron,
Thanato thanaton patizas,
Kai tis en tis mnimasi
Zoin xaresamenos.

(If I recall the hymn properly. I'm not Orthodox, but learned some of the service some years ago when I briefly dated a girl who conducted a Greek church choir.)

And from the West:

Victimae Paschali laudes
Immolent Christiani.
Agnus redemit Oves,
Christus innocens Patri
Reconciliavit Peccatores.

Mors et Vita duello
Conflixere mirando.
Dux Vitae Mortuus,
Regnat Vivus.

Dic nobis, Maria,
Quid vidisti in via?
Sepulchrum Christi viventis,
Et gloriam vidi resurgentis.

Angelicos testes,
Sudarium, et vestes.
Surrexit Christus, spes mea,
Praecedet suos min Galilaeam.

Scimus Christum surrexisse
A Mortuis vere.
Tu nobis, Victor Rx,
Miserere.

Amen. Alleluia.

Xristos anesti; Aleithos anesti.

[anka]

very well said MarMema.
a_Turk has always been kind and open in his discussions here.

one important item we often forget to acknowledge is the beam in our eye whilst pointing out the splinter in others'

christos anesti

[katnip]

Christ is Risen!

Truly He is risen!

Thank you so for posting these beautiful pictures and story. This is my first Pascha as an Orthodox Christian and I am filled with awe and thanks.

[a_Turk]

>> the Communists and now the Muslims are butchering innocents.

Let's pray for help that we may find the strength to look for and find the individual person in each other, and to allow others to see us that way..

[Gal.5:1]

Thank you for posting the beautiful pics.

"I am the resurrection, and the life."

[alethia]

Thanks for the ping, a_Turk. This is part of the reason I haven't been back to you on the other thread. I have been searching some of the information you forwarded -- but this is quite a big holiday for us and I've "back-burnered" my internet access lately. Back to you soon.

[MarMema]

Voistinu Voskrese!

[MarMema]

Alithos Anesti!

[MarMema]

MOSCOW -- Worshippers crowded into Orthodox churches across Russia last night for midnight Easter services and processions, and a delegation of priests and dignitaries carried oil lamps said to contain holy fire from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem back to Moscow.

The Jerusalem shrine is said to have been the burial place of Jesus.

The Itar-Tass news agency said the fire would be transported in a special container designed for the Olympic flame. It was taken straight from the airport to Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral, the site of the main Easter service. The delegation carrying the lamps was led by Metropolitan Pitirim of Volokolamsk and Yuryev, who was to replace Patriarch Alexy II at the service.

[TexConfederate1861]

Alithos Anesti!

[MarMema]

A Orthodox Christian pilgrim kisses part of the rock, which is traditionally believed to be the rock which was used to seal Christ's tomb, in the Holy Sepulchre Church during Orthodox Easter Sunday, April 27, 2003. Worshippers visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City which Christian faithful believe is built on the site of Jesus' last resting place after his body was removed from the cross.

[MarMema]

An Orthodox priest carries candles during Easter midnight mass April 27, 2003 at Tiganesti monastery, 30 km north of Bucharest. Romanians head off to church services that begin shortly before midnight during the Orthodox Easter celebrations, both a national holiday and a religious celebration.

[MarMema]

Orthodox nuns light candles during Easter midnight mass April 27, 2003 at Tiganesti monastery, 30 km north of Bucharest. Romanians attended church services that began shortly before midnight during the Orthodox Easter celebrations, both a national holiday and a religious celebration.

[MarMema]

Ukrainian women dressed in multicolored traditional folk costumes, with small bells in their hands, smile as they approach the St. Michael Cathedral to attend Easter services in downtown Kiev, Sunday April 27, 2003. More than 10 million worshippers attended all-night Orthodox Easter services held at 13,200 Orthodox parishes across the country.

[MarMema]

Macedonian Orthodox Archbishop Stefan, center, performs a holy service early Sunday, April 27, 2003, at St. Clement Cathedral in Macedonia's capital Skopje. Thousands of Macedonian Orthodox believers gathered at St. Clement Cathedral to celebrate Orthodox Easter.

[MarMema]

Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, crosses himself in Nicholas Cathedral Orthodox church in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, Saturday, April 26, 2003. Putin, who was visiting Tajikistan, attended a Saturday night Easter service in the small St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral in the capital Dushanbe, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

[MarMema]

A Bosnian Serb Orthodox priest distributes Easter eggs to Sarajevans, during liturgy for Orthodox Easter, in Sarajevo's main church, Sunday, April 27, 2003.

[Destro]

Archbishop Pavlos Stratigeas was and still is a great supporter for the Orthodox in Serbia.

[MarMema]

Greek Orthodox priests bless worshippers on Orthodox Easter Sunday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem Sunday April 27, 2003.

[Destro]

Christ is indeed Risen.

[MarMema]

and still is a great supporter for the Orthodox

Kinda reminds me of you....

[Destro]

I keep telling the Turks-stop being paranoid the Byzantine empire will rise up again and take back their ill gotten goods and open up the country to them. They Turks will make a fortune in pilgrim money.

[MarMema]

Christ is Risen!! Indeed He is Risen!!

A joyous Pascha to you, Des.

[MarMema]

Christ is Risen! Come and visit.

[MarMema]