“Bishop” of OCU suggests deferring Easter till the end of quarantine
Great Lent should be prolonged until the end of quarantine and made less rigorous in terms of food, followed by the Holy Week and Easter holidays, the OCU member thinks.
The "bishop" of the OCU, Nicodemus Kulygin, proposed moving the Easter celebration to the end of the coronavirus quarantine, which will last "as long as the Lord is willing". He wrote about this on his Facebook page.
“As for me, given the current quarantine events, I would readily accept the option if the Church could celebrate the Holy Week and Holy Christ Resurrection after the end of the quarantine,” said the member of the Kherson Diocese of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. “Thus, Great Lent may be prolonged till that time.”
He noted that quarantine with its tough restrictions is equal to fasting, “therefore, in view of the indefinite duration of such a Lenten period (if such an option were adopted), one could accordingly weaken their fasting in terms of food this year”.
“Then we could celebrate the Holy Week and the subsequent cycle of Easter holidays. In this case there would be "Easter for all" instead of "Easter at home". Hence, the celebration of Easter would be even more tangible and radiant, contrasting with the dim quarantine routine,” concluded the “bishop” of the OCU.
As reported by the UOJ, earlier Andrei Dudchenko, a clergyman and assistant to the "hierarch" of the OCU Alexander (Drabinko), said that fasting as per regulations is optional, and everyone decides what it should be on their own.
