Orthodox Christians worldwide celebrate locked down Easter
April 19, 2020
Orthodox Christians around the world celebrated their holiest day behind closed doors on Sunday as most churches remain shut due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Religious leaders from Moscow to Jerusalem urged worshippers to stay at home to prevent spreading the coronavirus, and instead hosted services online or on television.
The Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania broadcast midnight Mass from its Resurrection Cathedral in the capital Tirana, while services in Ethiopia were streamed live for its estimated 46 million Orthodox Christians — the largest Orthodox population outside Europe.
In a video message from his residence, Russian President Vladimir Putin called on citizens to respect the new restrictions aimed at curbing the coronavirus outbreak on Easter.
"There is no doubt that we will properly overcome the challenges that have confronted us,'' he said. ''Our people often say: 'God helps those who help themselves.' And that is how we're acting … I would still like to say: 'All will be well, with God's help.'"
Orthodox Christians, the world's third largest group of Christian followers, this year celebrate Easter a week after Catholics and Protestants as they follow a different calendar.
Read more: Russia's devout push back against coronavirus church closures
Undeterred by coronavirus rules
The Easter holiday season in Jerusalem is usually celebrated with colorful ceremonies and festivities in the Old City's Christian Quarter. However, this year, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's introduction of strict coronavirus measures to contain the virus, all public gatherings have been banned, including those of a religious nature.
Meanwhile, in eastern Europe, it appeared not everyone was willing to stay at home on the most important date in the Orthodox calendar.
Ukraine's Interior Ministry reported that about 130,000 people nationwide attended services, despite police having imposed a maximum limit of 10 worshippers inside a church at any given time.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who has taken a notoriously lax approach to the virus, decided to sidestep coronavirus warnings and visited a church without a face mask.
"I don't approve of those who closed people's way to church," he said, as quoted by Belta state news agency, adding, "we experience these viruses every year."
Lukashenko, who has continuously dismissed concerns about the coronavirus outbreak, has already made headlines for allowing football matches to go ahead amid the pandemic.
"As soon as this psychosis came, not even a disease, everyone rushed not to the church, but away from the church. It's not good,'' he said.
Belarus has imposed zero restrictions on movement. Hundreds of thousands of Orthodox Christians attended services at churches throughout the country.
In Georgia, several hundred worshippers participated in a midnight mass at Tbilisi's Holy Trinity Cathedral after the government allowed churches to open despite a curfew.
"I could have stayed at home and watched the service on television but only here in this holy church can I find true comfort," Lamara Zhvania, a worshipper, told French news agency AFP.
Meanwhile in Egypt, the leader of the country's Coptic Orthodox Christians held a service in a desert monastery.
mvb/aw (AP, AFP, Reuters)