Happy Easter holidays^^

[Puritan]

USSRGirl, Christians celebrate Easter as the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ. While the name Easter is related to the ancient word for April (and the ancient fertility goddess), the vast majority of the holiday consists of either Christian tradition or a celebration of Spring. Very little of the pagan tradition remains, and that which does has lost its religious significance.

I, and millions of Christians around the world, celebrate Easter (and the season of Lent leading up to Easter) with the focus on Christ, His death, and Resurrection. Please don't tell us that we are celebrating a pagan holiday when our focus is on Christ. Some of the traditions may be related to paganism, but they are now seen as a celebration of Christ and Spring rather than a way to celebrate the pagan gods. You are welcome to celebrate the Passover and Christ's Resurrection while not calling it Easter and leaving out old pagan customs. However, we are not celebrating two different holidays, one pagan and one Christian, simply one which focuses on the death of Christ.

Praise God for the sacrifice of Christ and His resurrection! Happy Easter/Happy Resurrection Day.

[Ingemar]

Erm...I bid you all a happy Passover...I'm not Jewish but I don't celebrate Easter. I celebrate the Biblical Jewish holidays of Passover and First Fruits instead. For the record...Easter = pagan Roman sun god day. Really. Read up on it. Nearly all the symbols can be traced to pagan roots. The colored eggs are from Babylonian tradition and can be found on thier pottery. The rabbit is a pagan symbol of spring time fertility...same with the flowers. It's basically just a pagan "life/spring" festival.

Except Easter can be completely divorced from pagan window dressing (a little moreso than Christmas). Even when I was a kid I found the concept of an "Easter Bunny" as extremely offensive BS. I haven't paid heed to that Lagomorph ever since, and the day has always been associated with the open empty tomb for me.

[Pent]

It's also my birthday today. And it's not a very good birthday considering the fact that everyone is celebrating Easter. But yeah I guess happy Easter.

[mitsuki lover]

The Orthodox have a different calendar from the rest of the Church so they celebrate at a later time.Just want to point that out.

[Doubleshadow]

Seriously belated Happy Easter to you all! And I am back from my giving up all media distractions including unnecessary usage of the 'Net for Lent! I missed you all! T.T Good to be back.

[Icarus]

Happy Easter, from the Greek Orthodox community.

Easter Homily

by St. John Chrysostom

Let all pious men and all lovers of God rejoice in the splendor of this feast; let the wise servants blissfully enter into the joy of their Lord; let those who have borne the burden of Lent now receive their pay, and those who have toiled since the first hour, let them now receive their due reward; let any who came after the third hour be grateful to join in the feast, and those who may have come after the sixth, let them not be afraid of being too late; for the Lord is gracious and He receives the last even as the first. He gives rest to him who comes on the eleventh hour as well as to him who has toiled since the first: yes, He has pity on the last and He serves the first; He rewards the one and praises the effort.

Come you all: enter into the joy of your Lord. You the first and you the last, receive alike your reward; you rich and you poor, dance together; you sober and you weaklings, celebrate the day; you who have kept the fast and you who have not, rejoice today. The table is richly loaded: enjoy its royal banquet. The calf is a fatted one: let no one go away hungry. All of you enjoy the banquet of faith; all of you receive the riches of his goodness. Let no one grieve over his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed; let no one weep over his sins, for pardon has shone from the grave; let no one fear death, for the death of our Saviour has set us free: He has destroyed it by enduring it, He has despoiled Hades by going down into its kingdom, He has angered it by allowing it to taste of his flesh.

When Isaias foresaw all this, he cried out: "O Hades, you have been angered by encountering Him in the nether world." Hades is angered because frustrated, it is angered because it has been mocked, it is angered because it has been destroyed, it is angered because it has been reduced to naught, it is angered because it is now captive. It seized a body, and, lo! it encountered heaven; it seized the visible, and was overcome by the invisible.

O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? Christ is risen and you are abolished. Christ is risen and the demons are cast down. Christ is risen and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen and life is freed. Christ is risen and the tomb is emptied of the dead: for Christ, being risen from the dead, has become the Leader and Reviver of those who had fallen asleep. To Him be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.