Orthodox Easter Celebration
As I shared in a post last year, my best friend from childhood, Luke, was the son of a Greek Orthodox priest. As both of our dads were clergy, and as we both spent lots of time therefore at church, we also had a lot to talk about when it came to the faith. I remember very clearly learning for the first time – I must have been seven or eight – that Luke’s family celebrated Easter at a different time from when we did. Not always, but usually, and it made me really curious.
As it turns out, and as I learned with the help of Luke’s parents, Orthodox Christians – including Greek and Russian and other members of the Orthodox faith – use not the western Gregorian calendar but the Julian calendar to set the date for Easter, and it usually follows the Protestant and Roman Catholic Easter.
But this year both fall this Sunday, April 20. And so I look forward to remembering Luke, his family, and all of our Orthodox brothers and sisters as I shout this Sunday, “Christ is Risen. He is Risen indeed!” knowing that they are shouting the same words on the same day.
Here’s a brief video on Orthodox Easter, and you can learn more by going to the websites of the Orthodox Research Institute or the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
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