DUSHANBE, April 19, 2009, Asia-Plus — Orthodox worshippers of Tajikistan mark Easter today.
The main act came Saturday’s night, with an 11:30 Paschal Vigil and Divine Liturgy in St. Nicolas Orthodox Cathedral in Dushanbe. Worshippers walked around the temple in the darkness illuminated only by candles held in their hands. After that the priest read a liturgy.
Easter is the most important religious feast in the Christian liturgical year. Christians celebrate this day in observance of their belief that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion, now estimated to have taken place between the years AD 26 and AD 36.
Easter also refers to the season of the church year called Eastertide or the Easter Season. Traditionally the Easter Season lasted for the forty days from Easter Day until Ascension Day but now officially lasts for the fifty days until Pentecost. The first week of the Easter Season is known as Easter Week or the Octave of Easter. Easter also marks the end of Lent, a season of prayer and penance.
Easter is termed a moveable feast because it is not fixed in relation to the civil calendar. Easter falls at some point between late March and late April each year (early April to early May in Eastern Christianity), following the cycle of the moon. After several centuries of disagreement, all churches accepted the computation of the Alexandrian Church (now the Coptic Church) that Easter is the first Sunday after the first fourteenth day of the moon (the Paschal Full Moon) that is on or after the ecclesiastical vernal equinox.
