Chachaji’s beautifully kind comment inspired me to post this “aww-inducing” picture for Easter. It’s from the BBC, it’s a year old and it captures this moment I am contemplatively marinating in perfectly. This is the caption it had last year:
A young Christian girl holds a candle during Easter celebrations at midnight mass in St Mary’s Church in Secunderabad, India.
When I was her age, my little sister and I would have been attired similarly (to her and each other!) in fluffy Easter dresses, tied with bows, trimmed with lace. My dress would have been a different color if on Good Friday I had had the honor of “guarding” Christ’s tomb while holding a basket of flowers as a myhrr bearer, dressed in pure white.
In a few hours, I’ll be holding a white candle at a midnight service as well, though since I am not Catholic, it is never called “mass” (that’s what mutineer Vinod avoids, not me). Easter liturgy in the Greek Orthodox church is a thrilling experience; pure darkness will be illuminated by one, ten, and soon a thousand candles (in large cities like this, yes) which glow and move as the faithful make the sign of the cross, while singing “Christos Anesti” (Christ is risen).
I’ll tell you more if you’re interested, but for now, I must go get ready. Only amateurs show up at the Cathedral at 11pm thinking they’ll get to sit, not when it’s standing room only by 10:30. It’s going to be a very long night, but I wouldn’t want it any other way. To all who were thoughtful enough to wish me a Happy Easter, here and elsewhere- thank you. I’m lucky to know you.
Armenian Orthodox clergymen hold candles at the Holy Fire ceremony in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, believed to be the burial place of Jesus Christ. [BBC]
”When you have moment will you tell about Orthodox and Catholic Easter in India? Why do the two calendars so seldom coincide” Well, unfortunately,record keeping was not a big deal in the Middle east 2000 years ago when it was an obscure part of the world no one paid much attention to.Another reason there could have been some confusion between the records of the different monastries that sprang up 100-200 years later in Greece,Turkey,Syria,Lebanon,Palestine,Egypt when the dates were changed from the Jewish,Greek,Roman,and gregorian calendars…
A good comparison would be that Caesar’s invasion of Britain happened only 50 years ago with the full power of the Roman government.Yet we do not have the accurate date of that, only the approximate year. Hope this helps.
Sorry,I had meant to write Caesar’s invasion of Britain had happened only 50 years before the first easter…
Hey which Greek church did you go to? There is a really pretty one near…. hmm.. where is that, oh it’s really close to the national cathedral in DC. I have been there for the awesome Greek Festivals they have every so often. Question about the Easter service for you. Being a Greek church, did they offer the service in English or Greek? I went to a Greek service one morning here in NYC (longing for my jaco style service) and found that it -like my malu service- was in the mother tongue of the peeps , thus it was in greek and my english literate-malayalum-illiterate ass left after teh morning service disappointed. I assume you did not face that issue– the service was in English right? Oh well if it wasn’t i guess it’s not a big deal since most of the time I don’t have a clue what they are saying in Jaco malu mass unless I follow along with the English counterpart in the service book.
The service was in Greek (which I prefer.) I could understand it perfectly because:
a) I can read Greek and thus can follow along
b) I’ve been listening to it for 32 years.
If it’s Jacobite, it’s not mass, it’s a liturgy. 😉 Mass is what Catholics (and sometimes Protestants) attend. Sorry, pet peeve alert (which is why I mentioned similar in my actual post).