REPORT: Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter holiday across the world

The Eastern Orthodox Christians throughout the world celebrated the Easter Holiday according to their own rituals and traditions.              

Orthodox Christians in Jerusalem held a mass at the Holy Sepulcher church on Sunday to mark Easter, the day they believe Jesus Christ was resurrected.              

The Greek Orthodox Patriarch in the Holy Land, Theofilos III, led the prayers at the Church.                

According to Christian traditions, the church in Jerusalem's Old City is built on the site where Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected.                

Roman Catholics and Protestants celebrated Easter last month, but Orthodox Christians use a different religious calendar.                      

In Egypt, Pope Tawadros II led his first Easter Mass as head of the ancient Coptic Church in Egypt praying for security and prosperity on Saturday at the same cathedral that was the site of sectarian clashes weeks earlier.                       

The Orthodox Easter mass, meant to be a religious celebration that marks the resurrection of Jesus after his crucifixion, took place amid increased attacks on churches.                   

The evening prayer service, which lasted for several hours, was tightly guarded. High-level police officials, the US Ambassador to Egypt Anne Patterson, as well as Muslim figures opposed to Morsi attended the mass.                    

In Russia, hundreds of people gathered in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in central Moscow on Sunday for Easter Mass led by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill.                

Patriarch Kirill entered the cathedral and symbolically lit a torch with Holy Fire brought from Jerusalem, as the cathedral lights were turned on.                    

Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and his wife, and Moscow's Mayor Sergey Sobyanin also attended the service.                  

In a small village near the Danube, a part of the historical Romanian territory of Dobruja, Lipovan worshippers celebrated their Easter traditions early on Sunday.                  

They still dress in the same way, they speak Old Russian, and they cross themselves with two fingers instead of three.                  

In Greece, two opposing parishes on a Greek island fired hundreds of homemade rockets at each other on Saturday night to mark Orthodox Easter in the traditional celebratory "rocket war".                        

The rockets were fired around midnight from the parishes of Saint Mark's church in Agios Markos village and Virgin Mary Erethianis church in Panagia Erithiani village, both on the Greek Island of Chios, in the Aegean Sea, 7 kilometres (4.3 miles) off the Turkish coast.                

Every year, small rocket displays are held at churches around the country while midnight Orthodox Easter services take place.                

It is estimated that some 70-thousand to 80-thousand small missiles are produced every year for the event.                      

The winning village is the one which has managed to score the most direct hits on their rival's church, though it is often difficult to produce an accurate tally.                

The event is also a tourist attraction.   


LBCI/AP


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