Phoenyx
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ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Led by their spiritual leader, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, Christians throughout the Orthodox world celebrated Easter on Sunday with church services and Easter eggs.
This year the Orthdox Easter also met the space age with South African Internet millionaire Mark Shuttleworth, the world's second space tourist, presented with a blue Easter egg as he emerged from a Soyuz capsule after landing safely in Kazakhstan.
In Moscow Patriarch Alexy II led a five-hour televised service at St Saviour's Cathedral attended by President Vladimir Putin and Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and their wives.
During the service, Alexy urged Israel to end the siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
"Together with other local churches, the Russian Orthodox Church has repeatedly called on the rival sides not to allow sacrilege of this church," Alexy said, according to ITAR-Tass news agency.
The patriarch told the congregation that it was the duty of Christians to oppose evil and said the church was prepared to give assistance to the forces fighting terrorism.
In Istanbul, Bartholomew wafted incense as he walked through the Cathedral of St. George, to bless more than 1,000 worshippers during an Easter service Sunday morning at the Patriarchate.
About 1,000 people, mostly Greek tourists, attended the service, joining the few Orthodox Christians who still live in mostly Muslim Turkey. At the end of vespers, Bartholomew handed out colourfully painted Easter eggs, wrapped in red and white cloth, to the congregation.
"It's the dream of every Orthodox to spend Easter ... here at the patriarchate," Arsinoi Lainiotis, a lawyer who came from Athens with her two daughters and husband for the celebrations, told the Associated Press. "It's the centre of Orthodoxy. We've heard about this church our whole lives."
In neighbouring Greece, celebrations of the country's main religious holiday were encouraged by sunshine. City-dwellers flocked to the countryside for traditional outdoor meals of spit-roasted lamb.
Greece's Orthodox church leader, Archbishop Christodoulos, said the Resurrection provided "spiritual confirmation for all believers."
The Easter celebrations in Greece started with candlelit services at midnight in parishes across the country. Many of the services were accompanied by firework displays.
In Russia the bells of Christ the Saviour Cathedral rang out along with bell-ringing at hundreds of smaller churches and monasteries in the capital.
Before attending the church service in Moscow, Putin on Saturday sent an Easter message to Russians, praising the renewed interest in religion in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union.
"Easter celebrations are evidence of the increased benign influence of the Russian Orthodox Church and other traditional churches in our country on society," Putin said in a statement released by the Kremlin press service.
It was the second time Alexy celebrated Easter in Christ the Saviour cathedral since its reconstruction and reconsecration two years ago, following its destruction under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
http://www.browardflag.com/images/images_world/greece.gif
This year the Orthdox Easter also met the space age with South African Internet millionaire Mark Shuttleworth, the world's second space tourist, presented with a blue Easter egg as he emerged from a Soyuz capsule after landing safely in Kazakhstan.
In Moscow Patriarch Alexy II led a five-hour televised service at St Saviour's Cathedral attended by President Vladimir Putin and Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and their wives.
During the service, Alexy urged Israel to end the siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
"Together with other local churches, the Russian Orthodox Church has repeatedly called on the rival sides not to allow sacrilege of this church," Alexy said, according to ITAR-Tass news agency.
The patriarch told the congregation that it was the duty of Christians to oppose evil and said the church was prepared to give assistance to the forces fighting terrorism.
In Istanbul, Bartholomew wafted incense as he walked through the Cathedral of St. George, to bless more than 1,000 worshippers during an Easter service Sunday morning at the Patriarchate.
About 1,000 people, mostly Greek tourists, attended the service, joining the few Orthodox Christians who still live in mostly Muslim Turkey. At the end of vespers, Bartholomew handed out colourfully painted Easter eggs, wrapped in red and white cloth, to the congregation.
"It's the dream of every Orthodox to spend Easter ... here at the patriarchate," Arsinoi Lainiotis, a lawyer who came from Athens with her two daughters and husband for the celebrations, told the Associated Press. "It's the centre of Orthodoxy. We've heard about this church our whole lives."
In neighbouring Greece, celebrations of the country's main religious holiday were encouraged by sunshine. City-dwellers flocked to the countryside for traditional outdoor meals of spit-roasted lamb.
Greece's Orthodox church leader, Archbishop Christodoulos, said the Resurrection provided "spiritual confirmation for all believers."
The Easter celebrations in Greece started with candlelit services at midnight in parishes across the country. Many of the services were accompanied by firework displays.
In Russia the bells of Christ the Saviour Cathedral rang out along with bell-ringing at hundreds of smaller churches and monasteries in the capital.
Before attending the church service in Moscow, Putin on Saturday sent an Easter message to Russians, praising the renewed interest in religion in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union.
"Easter celebrations are evidence of the increased benign influence of the Russian Orthodox Church and other traditional churches in our country on society," Putin said in a statement released by the Kremlin press service.
It was the second time Alexy celebrated Easter in Christ the Saviour cathedral since its reconstruction and reconsecration two years ago, following its destruction under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
http://www.browardflag.com/images/images_world/greece.gif
