Millions of Romanians on Sunday celebrated Eastern Orthodox Easter, the most Holy Day of the year, which is celebrated globally by more than 300 million Orthodox Christians.
Orthodox faithful in Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Ukraine, Russia, Macedonia and Albania are celebrating the holiest day in the church calendar. More than 85% of Romanians are Orthodox Christians.
Western Christians marked Easter on April 9. The reason for the different dates for Orthodox Churches is that they calculate Easter according to the Julian calendar, while the western churches use the Gregorian calendar.
The culmination is Saturday Midnight Resurrection services where the congregation holds lighted candles and sings out “Hristos a inviat!,” Christ Has Risen!” in services that go on until the early hours.
On Easter Sunday, a feast follows the Lenten fast where most households enjoy roast lamb, drob or lamb meatloaf, cozonac and pasca cakes, plus traditional multicolored Easter eggs.
In his Easter message, Patriarch Daniel called Easter „an explosion of joy which perpetuates the explosion of joy felt by the apostles who saw the Lord rise from the dead.”
„It is the joy which comforts all the sufferings of life on the Earth. For this reason, we should be joyful on Easter Day, not sad.”
In Ukraine, there was reason for rejoicing for some families after some 130 soldiers, sailors, border guards and others captured by Moscow were released following a “big Easter prisoner exchange,” presidential adviser Andriy Yermak said.
RussiaPresident Vladimir Putin attended an Easter service Sunday conducted by the Russian Orthodox Church, which has strongly backed the Kremlin leader’s decision to invade Ukraine.
