Orthodox Christians Celebrate Easter

Orthodox Christians around the world celebrated Easter Sunday, worshipping at candlelit services from Russia to Ethiopia before gathering families for outdoor feasts.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of 200 million Orthodox Christians, led prayers on Easter eve in the crowded Church of St. George in Istanbul. A flame brought from the site of Jesus' grave in Jerusalem was passed from candle to candle.

The patriarch called for peace, telling the congregation, "We call for an end to the killing of one another, and we denounce the violence and fanaticism that threatens life."

In Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulcher, hundreds of Orthodox Christians gathered for Mass. Candles glowed around the tomb where many Christians believe Jesus was buried, and hymns filled the cavernous grotto-like church.

Orthodox Christians use a different calendar from Roman Catholics and Protestants, so their celebration of Easter usually falls on a different date from the rest of Christianity and always after the Jewish festival of Passover. Coptic Christians in Egypt and some 25 million Ethiopian Christians also celebrated Easter on Sunday.

At the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI joined Orthodox religious leaders' calls for peace and offered prayers for victims of flooding along the Danube River.

"In the joyous atmosphere of these days, I cannot not recall that many of these peoples, in Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria, are suffering because of the flooding," he said, speaking from his window overlooking St. Peter's Square to tens of thousands of pilgrims.

The disaster has forced thousands from their homes yet Orthodox Christians still managed to celebrate Easter. Romanian refugees held services outdoors in the flood-stricken village of Rast, where priests used an improvised altar in an open tent.

Similar services in other flooded Eastern European villages were accompanied by fireworks and even celebratory gunfire.

Easter celebrations, a blend of religious and local traditions, typically include a spit-roast lamb dinner and a display of hard-boiled eggs, dyed red to symbolize the blood of Christ.

In Cyprus, youths around the island lit traditional Easter bonfires to burn effigies of Judas — the disciple thought to have betrayed Jesus.

In Greece, Orthodox leader Archbishop Christodoulos said the church remains a source of defiance against the negative effects of globalization and dominance of major world powers.

"The church is our hope for the future," Christodoulos said in his Easter message. "It is the living and new resistance against the murderous world order which throws every independent voice, every protest of conscience and reasonable opposition into the meat grinder."

Christodoulos' remarks were seen in part as a reference to the United States, ahead of demonstrations planned this week by anti-globalization and other groups against a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Political and religious leaders in predominantly Orthodox countries used Easter messages to issue appeals for national unity.

At Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior, President Vladimir Putin attended Easter prayers led by Patriarch Alexy II.

"I heartily congratulate Orthodox Christians and all citizens of Russia celebrating Christ's resurrection. Easter gives millions of Russians joy and hope," Putin said.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said he hoped moderation would prevail in tough negotiations to form a governing coalition as well deep division between the nation's Ukrainian-speaking, nationalistic west and pro-Moscow, Russian-speaking east.

"God will give us wisdom and lead us down the correct path," he said.

Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski promised to promote "religious and ethnic tolerance" in the tiny Balkan country strained by tension between majority Macedonian Slavs and minority ethnic Albanians.

And Greek President Karolos Papoulias called on neighbor and traditional rival Turkey to step up political and human rights reforms aimed as part of its candidacy obligations to join the European Union.

Patriarch Pavle, leader of the Serbian Orthodox Church, said the dwindling Serb community in war-scarred Kosovo province should "stay in their ancestral land" despite "terrible suffering and living in uncertainty."