Orthodox Easter

War in Ukraine entered its third month on Sunday – the day that Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter.

“But we will win. What else can you call them? I see nothing but dead meat,” the 75-year-old said. Can you imagine? Thousands of parishes in Ukraine still report to Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, primate of the Russian Orthodox Church. Kirill, an ally of Putin, has said that the Russian invasion of Ukraine had “a metaphysical significance” for the preservation of Christian values. Their conversation at the church turned to the horrors of the Russian invasion, particularly shelling in Obolon, a northern district of Kyiv – and their sentiments echoed those of Ukraine’s Orthodox Church leader, Metropolitan Epiphanius.

The sun came out as Ukrainians marked Orthodox Easter in the capital, Kyiv, with prayers for those fighting...

Key points: Ukraine's military warns Russia is deploying mobile battlefield missile launchers near its border; The spiritual head of Eastern Orthodox Christians ...

Stop," the pontiff said. Serhiy Gaidai — governor of the Luhansk region in Donbas — said Easter celebrations had been shattered there, with seven churches in his region "mutilated" by artillery. "We are inspired by the resilience of Orthodox Christians in Ukraine in the face of President Putin's brutal war of aggression," Mr Blinken said on Twitter. Ukraine estimates tens of thousands of civilians have been killed in Mariupol and said 100,000 civilians were still in the city. Ukraine proposed a "special" round of negotiations with Russia to discuss the fate of the civilians and Ukrainian troops still trapped in the city, although Moscow has yet to respond publicly. The aim of the talks would be to establish an immediate ceasefire in Mariupol as well as "multi-day" humanitarian corridors and the freeing, or swapping, of Ukrainian fighters trapped in the plant, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Retouch said.

Father Volodymyr Yavorskyi, right, prays during divine liturgy at the Saint John the Baptist Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Portland in late February, just a ...

Sunday is Orthodox Easter. For Orthodox Christians, it’s their holiest day of the year — more than any other religious holiday. OPB first visited St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Portland’s Sellwood neighborhood in late February, shortly after the invasion began. Father Volodymyr Yavorskyi is pastor of St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Orthodox Church. He offered us a prayer — in Ukrainian and English — for the Ukrainian people.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has prayed for peace in Ukraine and spoken of the importance of unity at a Greek Orthodox Easter service in Sydney.

And this enables us, I think, to move forward with great confidence." "Faith and community that has sustained our country through these past difficult years. "Let us pray for our nation... And this enables us, I think, to move forward with great confidence." The party says it will work closely with Indigenous health services to deliver up to 30 new dialysis units to treat chronic kidney disease and double the federal funding to combat Rheumatic Heart Disease with $12 million for prevention, screening and treatment. Labor has floated taking stronger action to curb multinational tax evasion. The party says it will work closely with Indigenous health services to deliver up to 30 new dialysis units to treat chronic kidney disease and double the federal funding to combat Rheumatic Heart Disease with $12 million for prevention, screening and treatment. "Let us pray for our nation... Ahead of landing in the Northern Territory, Labor has pledged to train an additional 500 Indigenous health workers and invest in life-saving dialysis and rheumatic heart disease treatments. The party says it will work closely with Indigenous health services to deliver up to 30 new dialysis units to treat chronic kidney disease and double the federal funding to combat Rheumatic Heart Disease with $12 million for prevention, screening and treatment. Ahead of landing in the Northern Territory, Labor has pledged to train an additional 500 Indigenous health workers and invest in life-saving dialysis and rheumatic heart disease treatments. The party says it will work closely with Indigenous health services to deliver up to 30 new dialysis units to treat chronic kidney disease and double the federal funding to combat Rheumatic Heart Disease with $12 million for prevention, screening and treatment.

This weekend would normally be a celebratory one for Ukrainians. But Easter Sunday marks two months since the latest Russian invasion.

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Vita Olevych, a Ukrainian American in Chicago, is in no mood to celebrate Easter on Sunday. “We don't feel like we're in the right headspace to celebrate ...

Kavchak and other priests have been partaking in a Ukrainian tradition to bless a basket full of eggs, bread and meat. Kavchak told TIME in a phone interview, translated by Dovgan, that many parents of soldiers have been coming to the church, praying for their kids. “That’s the thing that kills us the most, because there’s so much that we can send, so much money that we can give, but at the end of the day, all they need is safety.” Mazhar is pressing on with community efforts regardless, focusing on gathering food, clothes, and toiletries to send to Ukrainian orphanages and refugee camps. As Easter approaches, Antoniak is still getting settled in her Chicago home; she recently signed her son up for school in the city’s Ukrainian village neighborhood. There’s a special spiritual significance for Easter this year, says Olena Lymar, who lives in Chicago and is on the parish board of St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral. “We hope that the resurrection comes after the suffering and death of Christ, and it’s the same idea, that we hope for Ukraine to be resurrected as well,” says Lymar, 25. “We hope that after this terrible time, Ukraine will find light and peace—and that the Ukrainian people will be able to rebuild their country.” Kavchak added that his church is planning to have Easter service on Sunday as they usually would. She spent the last month traveling and working to bring her cousin’s 26-year-old wife, Anastasiia Antoniak, and 5-year-old son, Bohdan, from Ukraine to her home in Chicago to escape the war. Normally, Olevych, 25, and her husband look forward to attending church for Easter service and preparing for the festival by cleaning their home and making Easter baskets. Most Ukrainian churches will use pussy willows instead of palms on Palm Sunday because it’s a reminder of what grows in Ukraine. And Ukrainians display uniquely designed Easter eggs known as pysanky. There are several dozen Ukrainian parishes for the religious branch across the U.S. Like other Christians, Orthodox Christians have 40 days of Lent, followed by Holy Week, which leads up to Easter—but members of the Ukrainian Orthodox church also take part in traditions unique to their culture. “It’s been such a traumatizing and difficult couple of weeks.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has attended an Easter mass conducted by the Russian Orthodox Church, which has strongly...

Ukrainian Orthodox Christians are celebrating Easter this weekend, with this year's service marked with a theme of hope for those struggling in their ...

And that indeed the Lord will protect us." And that indeed the Lord will protect us." "Ukraine is now in the culmination of its history and therefore it will be the most special and sacred Easter in the history of Ukraine. "It symbolises the victory of life over death and hope for the future," Mr Pavlyshyn said. "Ukraine is now in the culmination of its history and therefore it will be the most special and sacred Easter in the history of Ukraine. "It symbolises the victory of life over death and hope for the future," Mr Pavlyshyn said.

The queue of families hoping to have their Easter food blessed snakes around the wall of the cathedral of St Mary Magdalen.

“But I don’t have this opportunity because my city is almost completely destroyed. “They have an opportunity to process these feelings and what’s happening to them now. “Peace”, is the only word she says, when asked about her hopes for this year’s holiday. “There wasn’t so much awareness of it,” said Milena’s husband, Włodzimierz Guliyan, 40. “We did not have to do that before because we did not have the war,” he said. While Holy Saturday is one of the busiest days for any Eastern Orthodox church, this was unusual for a parish which usually serves only 1,000 faithfuls.

Orthodox Easter and Greek Easter 2022 can be confusing to those who aren't members of Orthodox churches. Find out what sets these Easter celebrations apart.

Jill and I send warm wishes to all our friends in the Orthodox Christian community observing Easter. We rejoice with you in the Resurrection of Jesus.

During this sacred season, we hold in our prayers all those who are suffering from the brutality of war and persecution. We mourn with all those who have lost loved ones or who fear for their safety, and rededicate ourselves to working for peace with justice and for the freedom and security of all people. Jill and I send warm wishes to all our friends in the Orthodox Christian community observing Easter. We rejoice with you in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the triumph of light over darkness.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has attended an Easter mass conducted by the Russian Orthodox Church, which has strongly...

They've endured intense battles, brutal airstrikes and unimaginable loss, but this weekend many Ukrainians will attempt to celebrate one of their most ...

We have to believe in victory as well as we believe in Jesus Christ," he says. (The) guys should have an opportunity to eat some paska and sausage." "It's scary and there's anxiety in my soul. "Today in the morning there was an air alarm, but now thank God it's calmer and we could come. "We got a notification from our city officials that people should better stay at home, but we can't," she continues. "We are trying to keep a festive mood and hope for justice and peace. But the main thought which kept me afloat was that my child has to be born in safe conditions," says Nykyforchyn. And she didn't break down." It's such a ray of hope that everything is going to be okay." "I really wanted us to be together. "I've never been this happy in my life. In his nightly address Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ruminated on the significance of the date.

As the conflict in Ukraine rages on Vladimir Putin has attended an Easter service where the head of Russia's Orthodox Church has again failed to condemn the ...

The patriarch's support for Russia's military campaign, in which thousands of soldiers and Ukrainian civilians have been killed, has angered some within the Russian Orthodox Church as well as in churches abroad linked to the Moscow Patriarchate. When Patriarch Kirill, leader of Russia's Orthodox Church, announced "Christ has risen", Putin joined the other members of the congregation with the reply "Truly he is risen". He otherwise did not speak. Russian President Vladimir Putin has attended an Easter mass conducted by the Russian Orthodox Church, which has strongly backed the Kremlin leader's "special military operation" in Ukraine.

Holy Week rituals and traditions are exploited in Russia and Ukraine. The mid-June Jerusalem meeting between the pope and the Moscow patriarch has been ...

Such people sacrificially love the whole world”. As Archbishop Paolo Pezzi, head of the Catholic Church in Moscow, said: “The Cross is our only hope”. Hopefully, Ukraine will not be totally destroyed and its future endangered in what some media call the “Easter genocide”; otherwise, this would be mean that Russia could never be a place for universal fraternity among Christians. “Let us not grumble nor lose heart, for by His Resurrection, Christ the Saviour defeated evil”. In so doing, “each person has received a key with which he can and must open Paradise.” Such holy ascetics are often near us, but we are not interested in them, so we do not see them.” As a result of the war, Ukrainian refugees are everywhere. Not since Soviet times have liturgical celebrations been used to fuel a sense of terror in this part of the world. Patriarch Kirill started the Paschal Triduum by consecrating the Chrism, the sacred Miron with a thousand perfumes. Ostensibly, “We believe that the world lives for the sake of our economic, political, scientific and other achievements, but, in reality, the world lives for the sake of those righteous who have placed in their hearts the Risen Christ, the Strong and Mighty God, who made them strong and powerful. Such people sacrificially love the whole world”. “This year the Lord visited us with a special trial and sorrow,” said Onufriy (Berezovsky), primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), in his message of hope to the faithful. If Stalin was the “Father of Nations” and got priests to praise him, Putin wants to be recognised as the new “Word Incarnate”, representative of the people whose mission is to save everyone, head of the church of the new Apocalypse. The Kremlin has already announced that "the president will be in church for Easter services, as per tradition.”

Many of us celebrated Easter last weekend - but in countries such as Greece and Ukraine, it takes place on a different day. Here's why.

Orthodox Easter can sometimes occur on the same day as Western Easter, as it did back in 2017. Why is Orthodox Easter on a different date? The key dates for Orthodox Easter in 2022 are: Orthodox Easter 2022 is today, April 24. So when is Orthodox Easter, and why is it on a different date? When is Orthodox Easter 2022?

After they uprooted their lives when war broke in Ukraine, Svitlana Solovey was grateful to be spending Easter this year with her family in Melbourne's ...

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. When conflict broke out in Ukraine, they lived for a week in a bunker, sleeping on mattresses on the cold floor while Svitlana tried to help her seven-year-old daughter continue her school lessons. “Although we are far from Ukraine in Australia, we are close to it in heart and mind. Their son remains there fighting, which has been difficult and stressful for them. On Sunday, in a large room decorated with Ukrainian flags and filled with platters of cured meats, cheese and bread at Saints Peter and Paul Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in North Melbourne, the family said they were happy and grateful to be celebrating Easter in Australia. While waiting for the train to Poland, there was bombing near the station, and they spent the trip lying on the floor of the carriage, terrified they would be hit.

Christians in Ukraine celebrated Easter this weekend, as Russia's invasion entered its third month. Ukrainians began the holiday under curfew, after the ...

The weapons: Ukraine is making use of weapons such as Javelin antitank missiles and Switchblade “kamikaze” drones, provided by the United States and other allies. Ukrainians outside the country also celebrated. Guterres said last week that the time was apt for “reflection on the meaning of suffering, sacrifice, death — and rebirth. Before the holiday, Pope Francis and U.N. Secretary General António Guterres called for an Easter truce. The latest: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are expected to visit Ukraine on Sunday in what would be the highest-level visit by an American delegation since the start of the war. “But we keep our hope,” Zelensky said.

The war in Ukraine enters its third month on Sunday, the day Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter.

“I am calling for an Orthodox Holy Week humanitarian pause to the war in Ukraine. I urge all parties – and all champions of peace around the world – to join my Easter appeal,” Guterres said in a tweet. The war in Ukraine enters its third month on Sunday – the day that Orthodox Christians, the largest religious group in Russia and Ukraine, celebrate Easter. Hopes for a weekend truce in Ukraine to celebrate the Orthodox Easter faded with talks between Moscow and Kyiv stalled and Russia intensifying attacks in the east of the country on Saturday.

Subdued Orthodox Easter celebrations have taken place across Ukraine, exactly two months since the beginning of the Russian invasion.

She and 12 others spent a month sheltering from Russian soldiers in the basement of her home before the soldiers withdrew. "The Easter holiday doesn't bring any joy. "How do I feel?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy vowed on Sunday in an Orthodox Easter message that no "wickedness" will destroy the country and prayed that God ...

"Take care of our mothers, give endurance to those who are waiting for a son or daughter to return from the war," he added. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

People across Ukraine observed Orthodox Easter on Sunday with prayers for the troops defending the country from Russia's invasion.

The sun came out as Ukrainians marked Orthodox Easter in the capital, Kyiv, on Sunday with prayers for those fighting on the front lines and others trapped ...

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A woman carrying an Orthodox Easter basket prays at Holy Resurrection Church in Slovyansk, eastern Ukraine. LYMAN, Ukraine: Ukrainians on Sunday marked a sombre ...

"This is my job to stay. "They are not as beautiful as they used to be," she said, as she had not yet grown accustomed to the oven in her new home. She carried two iced cakes she had baked the day before covered in a cloth in a basket. Paisiy, a 34-year-old priest, said he had stayed in the city to bring comfort to the many residents who had refused to leave. In the relative safety of the western city of Lviv, a husband and wife in their Sunday best stepped up into a packed church, the latter holding the traditional breakfast basket covered in an embroidered cloth for the priest's blessing. Under the rain at a military position in the eastern town of Lyman, on the frontline, soldiers traded the usual patriotic salutation of "Glory to Ukraine!" for the ritual "Christ has risen!"

A Ukrainian priest blesses believers as they collect cakes and painted eggs in Lviv, Ukraine. The sun came out as Ukrainians marked Orthodox Easter in the ...

She and 12 others spent a month sheltering from Russian soldiers in the basement of her home before the soldiers withdrew. "The Easter holiday doesn't bring any joy. "How do I feel?

A Ukrainian priest blesses believers as they collect cakes and painted eggs in Lviv, Ukraine. The sun came out as Ukrainians marked Orthodox Easter in the ...

Without naming the aggressors, Francis urged them to "stop the attack to help the suffering of the exhausted people." The spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians called for the opening of humanitarian corridors in Ukraine, saying a "human tragedy" was unfolding in the country. Inside, a woman clutched the arm of a soldier, turning briefly to kiss his elbow. "The Easter holiday doesn't bring any joy. "The church can help," said one man who gave only his first name, Serhii, as he came to a church in Kyiv under the Moscow Patriarchate. He and others brought baskets to be blessed by priests for Easter, with flicks of a brush sprinkling holy water over offerings of home-dyed eggs, lighted candles and even bottles of Jack Daniel's. Residents of rural villages battered by the war approached the holiday with some defiance. Ukraine on Sunday prepared for the first high-level US trip to Kyiv since before the war began on February 24 after Zelenskiy announced he would meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Zelenskiy in a news conference on Saturday night gave few details but said he expected results -- "not just presents or some kind of cakes, we are expecting specific things and specific weapons." St Volodymyr's Cathedral in Kyiv was ringed by hundreds of worshippers with baskets to be blessed. She and 12 others spent a month sheltering from Russian soldiers in the basement of her home before the soldiers withdrew. "We'll celebrate Easter no matter what, no matter much horror," said Kateryna Lazarenko, 68, in the northern village of Ivanivka outside Chernihiv, where ruined Russian tanks still littered the roads. "I hope I'll only have to use the helmet for this," he said. The sun came out as Ukrainians marked Orthodox Easter in the capital, Kyiv, with prayers for those fighting on the front lines and others trapped beyond them in places like Mariupol. St Volodymyr's Cathedral in Kyiv was ringed by hundreds of worshippers with baskets to be blessed. Inside, a woman clutched the arm of a soldier, turning briefly to kiss his elbow.

Ukrainians on Sunday marked a sombre Orthodox Easter two months into Russia's invasion, with some braving bombardment for blessings and many of the ...

"This is my job to stay. "They are not as beautiful as they used to be," she said, as she had not yet grown accustomed to the oven in her new home. She carried two iced cakes she had baked the day before covered in a cloth in a basket. Paisiy, a 34-year-old priest, said he had stayed in the city to bring comfort to the many residents who had refused to leave. In the relative safety of the western city of Lviv, a husband and wife in their Sunday best stepped up into a packed church, the latter holding the traditional breakfast basket covered in an embroidered cloth for the priest's blessing. Under the rain at a military position in the eastern town of Lyman, on the frontline, soldiers traded the usual patriotic salutation of "Glory to Ukraine!" for the ritual "Christ has risen!"