What is Orthodox Easter?
Orthodox Easter, called Pascha in the Orthodox tradition, is the feast of the resurrection of Jesus as celebrated by the Eastern Orthodox churches. It is the high point of the church year, preceded by Great Lent and Holy Week, and it is celebrated with a long night service that usually begins late on Saturday evening and reaches its climax at midnight with the proclamation that Christ is risen. Orthodox Easter is also the reference point for the dates of Great Lent, Palm Sunday, Ascension and Pentecost in the Orthodox calendar.
In Belarus, where most believers are Orthodox, the date is a public holiday, and the ninth day after Easter, a Tuesday, is Radunitsa, when families visit cemeteries to share the news of the resurrection with their dead. Typical Easter customs include blessing of baskets with food, red eggs, special breads and the greeting Christ is risen, with the reply Truly he is risen. Because Belarus also recognises the Western Easter, residents often have two Easter occasions to observe, and the Orthodox date usually sets the larger of the two public celebrations.
Why it is observed
The Orthodox churches kept the Julian calendar when the Catholic Church adopted the Gregorian reform in 1582, and they still use it to work out Easter. In the twentieth century many Orthodox churches revised the calendar for fixed feasts such as Christmas, but in 1923 and afterwards the Orthodox world agreed to keep the Julian method for Easter, partly to preserve unity among the churches. The Julian calendar now runs 13 days behind the civil one, which is why the Orthodox date is later than the Western one in most years.
How the date is set
Orthodox Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after 21 March, with both the equinox date and the moon calculated on the Julian calendar. In the civil calendar it falls between 4 April and 8 May. In some years it coincides with Western Easter, and in others it comes up to five weeks later.
How it is observed
In Belarus Orthodox Easter is a public holiday, observed on the Sunday and followed by Radunitsa on the Tuesday of the following week, though the exact days off in any year are set by the government. Shops and offices close, and many people travel to visit relatives and graves. Orthodox Easter dates are calculated by rule and published years in advance. Pay, days off and substitutions depend on the country and the contract. Because the Orthodox date is calculated rather than observed, it never depends on moon sighting or an announcement.
Belarus