Priest Andrei Rusu, of the Chisinau Church “Great Saint Martyr Dumitru”, said the parishioners who really understand the religious aspect of Easter experience the greatest joy during a year. Easter is the feast that shows that we are mortals and that through Christ we live eternally and the death that occurs is only a corporal death through which we pass from one way of life to another one in the same kingdom of God that we entered by birth.
The priest has told IPN that it is important for everyone to be able to make a difference between commercial Easter and religious Easter as many observe a secular Easter from which Christ is excluded. The Christians celebrate the return to life of Jesus Christ and start to prepare for Easter day 49 days before the feast during Lent and then during the Passion Week.
The Resurrection is about life and death, about the fact that death was destroyed through Jesus and by his Rebirth we gained eternal life. Easter day is spent in the church. Church means the community of Christians who come together to acclaim Jesus Christ and our families. The family of Christians is the small church and the big church consists of many small churches.
On Easter night, by observing all the anti-epidemic measures, in their church and in the yard of their church, they sing “Jesus has risen” with a lot of joy. Later, after a night of prayer, the Christians go home to have a rest and then sit at the holiday table where not the food, but the atmosphere is what matters. The families discuss the joy of being together and sing “Jesus has risen”.
In the second part of Easter day, all the churches hold the Great Vespers which the Christians attend to observe the feast together with the community. Those in need should be supported and taken care of on this day or Christ does not revive in our souls and in our life.
