Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter

This Sunday, May 5, Orthodox Christians celebrated Easter, a date faithful to the old Julian calendar unlike most Western churches which celebrate Easter on March 31. Eastern Orthodox churches are autonomous and led by their own patriarchs.

Easter in Jerusalem

In Jerusalem, Christians gathered at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, with fewer pilgrims this year due to the war between Israel and Hamas. “We dedicate our prayers, like today, like every other day, and all other services to the people who are suffering in Gaza”said Natalia Gonscharoba outside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

This year’s Easter holiday comes as Israeli bombings and ground offensives in Gaza have lasted for nearly seven months and have killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, and caused a humanitarian catastrophe.

Easter in Istanbul

In Istanbul, celebrations took place in St. George’s Cathedral, where the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians around the world, Patriarch Bartholomew I led a liturgy.

Bartholomew is considered the first among Eastern Orthodox patriarchs, giving him some importance, but not the power of a Catholic pope. It oversees the Greek Orthodox and a few other jurisdictions, although much of the Eastern Orthodox world is autonomous under its own patriarchs.

Easter in Tbilisi

Several thousand Georgians celebrated Orthodox Easter with a candlelight protest vigil in front of a church opposite the parliament in the capital, Tbilisi, late Saturday.

The vigil was part of daily protests against a proposed law that critics see as a threat to media freedom and the country’s aspirations to join the European Union.

Protesters also massed along the main avenue leading to the neighborhood, many of them waving flags of Georgia and the European Union. They listened as a small choir sang Easter songs and activists distributed food, including hand-painted eggs and traditional Easter cakes.

Unlike the mass gatherings earlier this week, which were subject to heavy-handed police intervention, the atmosphere at the vigil was peaceful. The unarmed police officers posted scatteredly on the sidelines of the vigil received festive food at the same time as the demonstrators.

The proposed bill would require media outlets, nongovernmental organizations and other nonprofits to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20 percent of their funding from the ‘stranger.

Protesters and the Georgian opposition denounced the proposal as “Russian law”, with Moscow using similar legislation to stigmatize independent journalists and those critical of the Kremlin.

Easter in Belgrade

In Serbia, hundreds of people attended midnight mass in Belgrade, presided over by Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Porphyry, to celebrate the resurrection of Christ.