www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Only one Russian in ten celebrates Easter in church

Only one Russian in ten celebrates Easter in church

by Nina Achmatova
5/3/2013
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Only-one-Russian-in-ten-celebrates-Easter-in-church-27818.html

Levada center survey says most Russians will mark the holiday in accordance with tradition, painting eggs for example. Moscow Patriarchate reminds opposition that Easter is a time of peace after the latter plans to mark last year's crackdown.


Moscow (AsiaNews) - Russians are preparing to celebrate Orthodox Easter this Sunday. Whilst most of them (72 per cent ) are expected to take part in some traditional activities like egg painting, only one Russian in ten (11 per cent ) will go to church, this according to the Interfax news agency, citing a survey conducted late last month by the independent Levada centre.

According to study, most of those who plan to attend Easter vigil will be over 55 years of age and residents of small towns. In accordance with Russian customs, 27 per cent of respondents said they will celebrate Easter by going to the cemetery.

Another survey by the Vtisom center found however that 42 per cent of those who declare themselves atheist will celebrate Easter as well, preparing traditional dishes such as Kulich, a type of bread with frosting on the top.

Celebrated last week, Palm Sunday is known as Verbena Sunday in Russia because that plant's branches are used during the liturgy that starts the Holy Week.

Easter also marks the end of the Great Fast (Russian Lent). Tomorrow, the Holy Light will come from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem to be used in Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral to light thousands of candles for Easter Vigil.

During this service, the officiating priest will symbolically remove the shroud from the tomb and come out of the church in procession searching for the body of Christ.

After following a predetermined route, he will announce 'Christos voskres!' (Christ is Risen) to the faithful who will respond 'Voistinu voskres' ('Truly He is risen'). Ordinarily, people use the same expressions to express good wishes among family and friends.

This year, as he opened Holy Week, Metropolitan Hilarion, head of the External Relations Department of the Moscow Patriarchate, called on the faithful to "devote their entire lives to God," as well as reminded them to do the same, even the "simplest actions", every day, and not only during religious holidays.

For his part, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, head of the Synodal Department for Church and Society, appealed to the opposition. The latter is planning a demonstration in central Moscow to mark the anniversary of last year's violent clashes between demonstrators and police during an anti-Putin protest rally.

"Probably, people have the right to express their political views on that day as on any other, but it is essential to remember that it is a special day, it has a special spirit to it, it is a day of peace, joy, brotherly fellowship and mutual forgiveness," Archpriest Chaplin said.

Eleven percent is one Russian in nine. I guess math is going down the tubes in Russia along with everything else. But I don't see why anyone should be surprised by this figure. Only 5% of Russians attend Liturgy every Sunday. Since Pascha is a major feast, heavy turnout is to be expected.

I have observed that at orthodox churches, especially "russian" the largest crowds come for the procession around the church and by the time Liturgy is over the churches are empty. On the other hand, at least at one BC church, hardly anyone came for the procession and Resurrection Matins but the church was full throughout the Divine Liturgy. Anyone else noticed this?

I visited a Romanian Orthodox Church many years ago for Pascha. After the candlelight procession around the church and the acclamation of "Christ Is Risen!" by the priest, a large number of people then left with their candles. I wasn't expecting that at all.

For me that's not an option - I better keep on singing until the end, or the choir director will have my head.

I haven't been to many Orthodox liturgies, but in the BC parishes I've noticed that there is usually a smaller group right at the beginning and then more and more people trickling in throughout the liturgy and staying to the very end. In our parish we usually end with a lot more people than we start with. I don't remember ever seeing anyone leave early.

Maybe its because the Orthodox Pascha is always at midnight and for some reason the BC seems to be early in the morning and its an early wake up call for some?

I have noticed the largest crowds for the basket blessings. In House Springs they kept a window open in the back on the men's side so they would know when to put out their smokes and come in. On days that the wind came in the right direction, we always had plenty of incense, although not as fragrant.

I remember back in about 2000 on the forum there was an article posted about just how much time people spend in church. It was such a paltry amount for even the most devout. It seems such a poor excuse to say that it is to early or to long.

Seems about the same percentage as Ireland or Portugal these days. I wonder what the point of this post was? That church attendance is plumeting like a rock, just about everywhere?