Members of St. Christopher Hellenic Orthodox Church in Peachtree City will celebrate Orthodox Easter this Sunday, April 27, along with other Orthodox Christians around the world.

Fr. George Tsahakis, pastor of St. Christopher’s, will celebrate all the traditional Orthodox services of Holy Week and Easter with the help of his parishioners, choir, and chantors.

Visitors are welcome and encouraged to attend as their schedules permit.

When the dates for Western Easter and Orthodox Easter are so far apart like this year, when Western Christians celebrated Easter on March 23, and Orthodox Christians will celebrate it April 27, the question comes up why the Orthodox Church celebrates on a different date.

Tsahakis explains, “Initially, early Christians converted from Judaism and celebrated the Resurrection of Christ according to the Jewish (lunar) calendar. For Christians, Christ was the Paschal Lamb, the fulfillment of all that the Passover had foreshadowed since the first Passover which celebrated the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.

“Orthodox Christians celebrate ‘Pascha’ or Easter as the New Passover; the victory of the new Paschal Lamb who shed His blood for the salvation of all people.

Thus ‘Pascha’ (from the Hebrew pesach, meaning Passover) was celebrated on Passover, the 14th day of the month of Nisan (the first full moon following the vernal equinox).

“At the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea in 325 A.D., the bishops determined the Pascha date would be the first Sunday after the first full moon of the spring equinox, (which is after Jewish Passover).

In keeping with historical practice, since Jewish Passover was April 19 this year, the date for Orthodox Christians to celebrate Pascha or Easter is delayed until April 27,” Tsahakis concluded.

During Holy Week, worship becomes almost continuous, from Palm Sunday services through the Resurrection Service Easter Sunday morning.

For information on scheduled Holy Week and Easter Services, contact Tammy Soulakos, 770-487-1004, or email her at tammy@peachcity.com, or visit the parish’s website at www.saintchristopherhoc.org.

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