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The Orthodox Churches celebrated Easter on 1st May. In Greece the local Catholic Church also celebrated the solemnity on the same day. It has always been the desire of the Greek bishops, in fact, to be able to celebrate Easter together with all the Christian Churches in Greece, as explained to SIR by the president of the Bishops’ Conference, Msgr. Francis Papamanolis. “Finally it is Easter also for us. It is not a question of reaching agreement on criteria to establish the date of Easter; these exist and are faithfully followed both by Catholics and by Orthodox believers, but they are astronomical and scientific calculations that we Christians must have a bit of humility in accepting”. At the start of his pontificate Benedict XVI assumed a commitment “to spare no effort in working to restore the full and visible unity of all the followers of Christ”. This commitment, for which “expressions of good intentions are not enough”, and which requires concrete gestures capable of moving consciences, inspires “hope and trepidation” in the president of the Greek bishops. “I dearly wish he adds that all Christians had a common date for celebrating Easter. How many problems would disappear or would not be created if all Christians had a common date for Easter! For over 35 years our bishops in Greece, with the aim of cultivating the spirit of union with our Orthodox brothers, have chosen to celebrate Easter on the same day as the Orthodox Church. And we continue to do so today”. Bishop Papamanolis’ thoughts go to the families “of mixed religion”: “The father celebrates Easter with the children while his wife is still in Lent. Or vice versa. The same happens not only in the family, but also in social life. We think of the young people studying abroad: they return to their family for the Catholic Easter, but on arriving home, they find there is no Easter. And when they return to their place of study abroad, they find that Easter has already passed. Not even for the public offices do the Easter holidays correspond”. Looking at the calendar for the years ahead, it emerges that in 2006 the Catholic Easter will be celebrated on 16 April, the Orthodox one on the 23, a week later; in 2007 the date of Easter will be shared, 8 April, while in 2008 there will be once again 5 weeks’ difference, 23 March for Catholics, and 27 April for the Orthodox.
