Church of Greece defers Passover celebration
The Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church decided that festive Easter worship in wake of coronavirus will be deferred to the end of May – the day of Leavetaking of Pascha.
On April 1, 2020 the Synod of the Hellenic Orthodox Church decided to postpone the celebration of the Holy Resurrection of Christ, reports Ecclesia.gr website.
The fifth paragraph of the synodal decree states: "We wish and pray that soon the danger will pass, so that all of us (clergy and laity) would be able to celebrate the Bright Resurrection of our Lord together with a festive Sunday service during the Leavetaking of Pascha, i.e. on the night of Tuesday 26 to Wednesday 27 May 2020."
In addition, the synodals called upon all members of the Church of Greece to pray fervently in their homes: "Make yourselves an altar, sacrificing with love your presence in the holy temple and your partaking of the Eucharist for the sake of all your brothers who are the living altars of God.”
They also assured that the priests will at this time "serve unpretentiously 'behind the closed doors', without loudspeakers or the solemn bell ringing, no matter how much difficult and distressing it may be for us, for 'the life and salvation of the world', for 'those afflicted', doctors and nurses and all volunteers who, in the spirit of sacrifice, give themselves to protect the lives of many people and public health.”
Earlier, the UOJ wrote that the GOC Synod had asked the Greek authorities to allow the services of Holy Week and Easter behind the closed doors.
