Orthodox holidays - Orthodox Easter congratulate →

The key holiday of Orthodox Christians is Easter The celebration of this solemn day stands at the very origins of the birth of Christianity If other holidays were gradually layered and acquired significance in the process of developing the structure of the liturgical life of the Church, then Easter is the axis on which they are gathered This status is expressed in the definition “Easter is a holiday of holidays, a triumph of celebrations” The onset of Easter is calculated not according to the solar calendar, but according to the lunisolar calendar, and therefore its date differs within different years The technique that allows you to calculate what day Easter falls on in a particular year is called Paschalia Briefly, the calculation rule can be expressed as follows: after the first full moon following the spring equinox, it is necessary to determine the first Sunday day It will be the day of Easter This is why we talk about the lunisolar calendar, because the equinox is an event in the solar cycle, while the full moon is an event in the lunar cycle It is necessary to clearly distinguish the event celebrated by Orthodox Christians on Easter from the event celebrated by the Jews, despite the fact that on the very first day from which the tradition comes, these events coincided In the year in which the action revered by the Orthodox took place (we are talking about the 33rd year of the new era), on the Sunday described, the Miracle of the Resurrection of Christ occurred It coincided with the celebrations celebrated by the Jews on the occasion of the Exodus, here meaning the liberation of the Jews from Egyptian captivity Further, these holidays diverged in dates, significance, and religion The very meaning of the holiday has also changed, even in terms of the Easter sacrifice For Jews it is the lamb, for Christians it is the Savior Christians do not celebrate Passover, which is the name of the Jewish holiday, but Jews do Easter However, the consonance remains and it is obvious The word Passover from Hebrew is translated as “passed by, passed by” We are talking about an incident that occurred in Egypt when God passed by the houses of the Jews and spared the firstborn Further, the name of the holiday was borrowed and expanded with an alternative one - Bright Sunday of Christ This day marks the culmination of Holy Week, as the culmination of a series of events that occurred in the last week of the life of Jesus Christ and are especially revered by Christians This last week is the strictest in the Great Lent, known as Great Lent Believers who observe it significantly limit themselves in food products and spend their days praying for repentance in memory of the Savior’s death on the cross On Good Friday, the day when Christ was crucified, fasting is especially strict And on Holy Saturday, Orthodox Christians go to churches to bless Easter foods: krashenki (colored eggs), Easter cottage cheese and Easter cakes This is done in the vestibules, because such food cannot be brought inside The eve of the holy night of Easter is marked by all-night vigils, special public services held before great church celebrations The holiday is considered to come after the end of the service; at this moment you can break your fast, that is, start eating fast food After which, during daylight hours, folk festivities begin