Christos Anesthi!

 

 Today is Easter, to the Orthodox Church. The First Council of Nicea (325 A.D.) set the formula for calculating the date of Easter, which both Catholic and Orthodox accept. However, they use different calendars and so come up with different dates. Orthodox follow the Julian calendar, which differs somewhat from the Gregorian calendar, regarding Easter, and their celebration is usually, not always, a week later than that of Catholic and Protestant churches. Pascha, the Passover lamb, is the name for Easter.

 The fast called Great Lent begins on Clean Monday, seven weeks before Pascha, and ends on Lazarus Saturday (commemorating the day Lazarus was raised), the day before Palm Sunday (also a week after Western Palm Sunday). However, Orthodox Christians generally continue to fast through Holy Week.

 Pascha is a day of rejoicing and feasting, with lamb being the traditional Easter meat. Red dyed eggs commemorate the blood of Jesus.

 In English, our Easter greeting and response is “He is risen!” and “He is risen, indeed!” Greek believers share the same greeting – “Christos anesthi!,” Christ has risen, and “Alithos anesthi!,” Truly He has risen.

While Easter is the greatest celebration for the Christian Church, it is not merely a one-day event. We rejoice in the Resurrection every day of our lives, once we have taken the Gift of Eternal Life for ourselves. Since God did not give us a date or rules for celebrating, it is wonderful that some Christians celebrate on one day and others on another day. Our daughter has many Greek friends and often celebrates both Easters! Other believers, even if not Orthodox, celebrate on this day if that is customary in their country. For us, every Lord’s Day and all weekdays are days to remember and rejoice over the Resurrection, because His eternal life is our eternal life! Alithos anesthi!

--Lynda Shenefield