Craig Daily Press

Craig — This Sunday, the world’s 350 million Orthodox Christians, including the parishioners of Saint John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church in Craig, will celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Eastern Orthodoxy does not use the Anglo Saxon term “Easter.” Rather, Orthodox Christians refer to this celebration as “Pascha” – a Greek word taken from the original Hebrew meaning for Passover.

The date of “Pascha” is determined according to the following method: The celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ always falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon, after the Spring Equinox, and always after the Jewish Feast of Passover.

This method was established by the undivided Christian Church in the year 325 A.D. to maintain the biblical sequence of events of the passion and crucifixion of Jesus and His resurrection from the dead, which coincided with the Jewish Feast of Passover. Jesus and His disciples were in Jerusalem for Passover observances.

Western Christianity simply has not maintained this historical and biblical continuity, so celebrate “Easter” on a different Sunday most years.

This Holy Week the parishioners of Saint John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church in Craig have been attending morning and evening services commemorating the Passion and Crucifixion of Christ.

The week will culminate Sunday with the joyous exclamation that “Christ is Risen”!

The public is welcome to attend any of these Holy Week Services.