Today is the greatest Christian holiday – Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and represents the essence of the Christian faith.
The celebration of Easter, which was preceded by preparation with a several-week fast, Orthodox believers first begin in churches, gathered in community for the Holy Liturgy, the climax of which is communion – union with God.
Then the celebration continues in the family circle, where a special joy, especially for children, is beating colorful Easter eggs.
The colorful egg represents the very symbolism of Easter. The egg is a symbol of the birth of life, the chick hatches the shell and comes out, just as Christ rose from the dark tomb and ascended to heaven.
Orthodox believers gather around the Easter table and recite the Lord’s Prayer “Our Father”, and sing the Easter, victorious troparion “Christ is risen from the dead and by death he has conquered death…”.
Easter is celebrated for three days, during which Orthodox Christians greet each other with “Christ is risen”, with the greeting “Truly he is risen”.
The Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, as this holiday is designated in the calendar of the Serbian Orthodox Church, is the oldest Christian holiday and has been celebrated since the earliest times of Christianity. It is the main movable holiday and its date is used to determine when other movable religious holidays will fall.
At the First Ecumenical Council, held in Nicaea in 325 AD, the Church established that Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon that appears after the first equinox, but it cannot be before April 4 or after May 8.
This canonized principle of determining the date of Easter is today applied by Orthodox churches, that is, churches that have remained on the orthodox, orthodox line.
From 9 o’clock you can follow the Easter liturgy from the Cathedral Church of the Most Holy Theotokos in Sarajevo live on BHT1.
