Orthodox Christians around the world celebrate Easter, with believers affected by war in the Middle East
發佈日期: 2026-04-11 23:34
TVB News
Orthodox Christians around the world are preparing for Easter on Sunday, with the Eastern Christian communities typically celebrating the holy day at a later date owing to the different use of religious calendars.
While most Christians have already commemorated the day of Jesus' resurrection a week ago, hundreds of millions of Orthodox Christians -- the majority today living in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa -- will celebrate the sacred day tomorrow.
In Russia, the world's largest Orthodox nation, believers flocked to this church in Moscow to attend a divine liturgy marking the day after Jesus' crucifixion.
Traditionally, the faithful would take their cakes and eggs to church to have them blessed by the priest, with sweets historically playing a major role in Orthodox Easter customs.
Further south in Ethiopia, a sea of white made up of Christians wearing the netela, a white garment symbolising purity, flooded the streets of the nation's capital Addis Ababa.
This as the ancient community, which prides itself on being one of the earliest Christianised countries in the world, said celebrations this year have been somewhat subdued owing to the fuel crisis caused by the war in Iran.
In the holy land of Jerusalem, worshippers gathered at the Holy Sepulchre Church for the age-old Holy Fire ceremony.
This was a very unique celebration and thank God it's open.
I would extend all my best wishes of Easter to all the Christians in the world.
The annual event, which dates back to at least 1,200 years, attracted scores of believers from all corners of the Christian world to the church that was closed to the public for several weeks after Israeli authorities earlier announced restrictions on religious activities.
