St. Ignatius Antiochian Orthodox Church to celebrate Easter on April 19

This year the Western Church Holy Week begins April 5 with Palm Sunday and Easter, the most important feast in the Christian calendar, will be celebrated on Sunday, April 12.

The Orthodox Church, however, will celebrate the beginning of Holy Week on Sunday, April 12, and Easter or Pascha one-week later, on April 28.

Both Eastern and Western Christianity celebrate Easter, which is a movable feast as opposed to having a fixed date like Christmas, on different dates.

“This difference occurs,” said Rev. George Kevorkian, pastor of St. Ignatius Antiochian Orthodox Church in the Village of Florida, “because the Orthodox Church uses the older Julian calendar, established in 46 BC, as opposed to the newer Gregorian Calendar, established in the 16th Century and used by the Western churches.”

Kevorkian explained that the difference in calendars causes the dates to sometimes be one week apart, like this year, occasionally on the same day, and even, as much as five weeks apart.

“And instead of Easter,” said Kevorkian, “we also use the Greek word 'Pascha' which means passover, and reminds us that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ allows us to pass over from death to new life.”

St. Ignatius will continue to observe the traditional schedule of services for an Orthodox Holy Week.

“However,” said Kevorkian, “this is an extraordinary year with us all fighting the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.”

He explained that according to a directive issued by their archbishop, as of March 18, they began celebrating the divine services in the church with only the clergy, chanters and a few altar servers present, and live streaming video to the homes of parishioners. And for some of the weekday services, they used a telephone conference call facility where people dial in to a designated number and join in the prayers. That allows more interaction where people can participate by reading certain parts of the service.

“The entire journey through Orthodox Holy Week is an extraordinary one,” he said. “We do not simply commemorate the events of 2000 years ago, but we are present for the passion, crucifixion, and resurrection of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

For the latest information and instructions on how to view the services visit the Church’s Website at http://www.stignatiusflorida.org.

- Roger Gavan