Orthodox Christians in Latvia celebrate Easter – BauskasDzive.lv

Orthodox Easter is celebrated today in Latvia.

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The date of Easter is variable because it depends on the phase of the moon. Other Christian holidays are celebrated depending on the date of Easter.

This year, Catholics, Lutherans and Baptists celebrated Easter on March 31, while the Orthodox celebrate this holiday today.

During the holidays, the Metropolitan of the Latvian Orthodox Church, Aleksandrs, wishes not to let any of life’s sorrows and worldly temptations shake faith or deviate from the commandments of Christ, “so that worldly pleasures do not close our entrance to the kingdom of Love and the eternal Passover”.

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“Christ calls us to love, but the spirit of this world – the spirit of pride and self-love, the spirit of division – sometimes takes over people. (..) Let’s show love to those who lack it, the poor and lonely, widows and orphans,” the metropolitan calls.

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is closely related to the Jewish Passover, because according to the testimony of the New Testament, Jesus died on the Passover, which is celebrated on the day before the first full moon day after the beginning of spring. The Jews commemorate their exodus from slavery in Egypt during Passover.

However, the first Christians called the day after Christ’s crucifixion, in which the resurrected Christ appeared to his disciples, the Lord’s Day. Thus, the Christian Church began to celebrate every Sunday as the day of Christ’s resurrection.

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Theologians from different parts of the Roman Empire used to debate about which is the true date of Easter. In 325, at the Council of Nicaea, theologians abandoned the law that Easter should be celebrated at the same time as Passover, and determined that it should be celebrated on the Sunday after the first full moon day after the beginning of spring.

However, the confusion continued, the festival continued to be celebrated on different dates, as there were different opinions about the beginning of spring in the Roman Empire. In 525, Dionysius Exigius determined March 21 as the beginning of spring. Astronomically, spring begins on March 20 or 21, when day and night are of equal length.

Only in the year 800, when Charlemagne reigned, the entire Christian world began to celebrate Easter on the same date. However, the consensus lasted only until the Middle Ages, when in 1582 Pope Gregor reformed the calendar. Catholics and evangelical Christians have adopted the Reformed calendar, but most Orthodox Christians stick to the Julian calendar.

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The Gospels say that on this day the wives came very early to the tomb and carried the anointing medicine. However, they found the tomb empty, without the body of Jesus in it. “When they did not know what to do, two men in shining clothes approached them. And when they lowered their eyes to the ground in fear, they said to them: “What do you seek among the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen,'” writes the evangelist Luke.

Easter, or the event of Christ’s resurrection, is what gives people victory over sin, death, and the hope of eternal life, according to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia.

There are two Orthodox churches with congregations in the Bauska region – Bauska St. George Orthodox Church, built in 1881 and designed by the well-known architect Jānis Frīdrihs Baumanis; as well as the new church in Iecava. In both congregations, the services are led by chief priest Nikolajs Prikazjuks.

In the picture – Orthodox Church of Iecava. Photo from the archive of “Bauskas Dzīves”.