By Lori Perkins
Steve Outran/ Getty Images
Most Americans are unaware that there are often two Easter celebrations, as traditional Easter (as a half Greek person, we call it “American Easter”) and Orthodox Easter, are usually a week apart. This is because Orthodox believers’ religious holidays are calculated by the Julian calendar, as well as the Hebrew calendar (so it always falls during Passover), not the Gregorian (secular) calendar that most other modern civilizations use.
While we’ve all seen the beautiful colored eggs and sweet breads (Tsoureki), this year there is very little joy, only sincere hope for a true rebirth of democracy.
This year, it is a very somber holiday, since a schism has developed between practitioners who are following the Orthodox patriarch who is Russian, and praying for the Russian military, and those who are praying for the Ukrainians. This morning Patriarch Krill lit candles for Russian bombs while the Ukrainian president asked for strength in “overcoming dark times.”