Orthodox Easter this weekend...

[MockersxxxxxxxSocialDistancing]

...and they're practically giving away the chocolate bunnies in Aldi.

Is Chocoholism a substantive basis for membership of a faith denomination?

My Dad is orthodox. You will need to have been fasting for all of lent and self examining, you'll have to go to church all night on Saturday night and break your fast with bread and lamb.

No chocolate bunnies either.

Sadly we don't really do chocolate for Easter*, but no one is saying you can't mix and match!

It is traditional to have a meal at around 12 after coming from church though.

• Signed a fat atheist who happily celebrates two Easters .

I know an Orthodox family and they definitely do chocolate for Easter. I suppose there are several different Orthodox churches, Greek, Russian, Serbian etc so maybe they vary.

I considered converting when I found out they did pancake week rather than pancake day.

Can someone explain why an Orthodox Easter is different. Yes, I know I could google

Ginfordinner it's really simple. Based on the Julian calendar it's a week later.

We've just dyed our eggs - we're a two Easter family

@Ginfordinner it's calculated differently.

I'm Orthodox and we definitely have chocolate. Most people try some kind of fasting but few manage what the church dictates i.e. no food of animal origin for 40 days (no eggs, milk, meat, fish except on a couple of days with special permission), no partying (incl no weddings) or going out, lots of introspection, no sex. You can relax the fasting rules for children for nutritional reasons but they are not allowed any sugary treats. On Good Friday you are not allowed to eat anything until sunset. Saturday you are supposed to cook all day then go to church at midnight.

Sunday is the fun day. For the record, I do none of that and still enjoy a great deal of lamb and chocolate

Is the miracle going ahead at the Holy Sepulchre?

Serious question.

My mum's Orthodox, Dad's Anglican, I'm a shapeshifter.

When you say Orthodox do you mean Greek/Russian?

I am curious, not goady. I find it interesting.

Thanks for reminding me, I have an Orthodox friend and was intending to send Easter greetings over the weekend. I'll organise it now.

I have a friend who’s a Coptic Christian from Egypt and I am literally obsessed with finding out about the religion I find it fascinating, friend bought me a book on it for my birthday 😂 is that the same as Orthodox ???

I'm Orthodox and we don't eat chocolate for Easter traditionally. We bake a type of sweet bread and eat that instead. Also some special cookies and savoury dishes. But no chocolate. And the only eggs we have are the ones we decorate

@Ginfordinner There are many different Orthodox branches. Russian and Greek are just two of them

I shall go and google. I find learning about different religions fascinating.

No, Copts are not Orthodox in the sense that we use the word for the churches of Greeks, Slavs, Romanians and so on. The Coptic church has its own Pope (Tawadros II) in Alexandria and is 'Oriental Orthodox' having split from the others after Chalcedon in 451. Churches in Eritrea and Ethiopia are part of this family.

When we talk about Orthodox we tend to mean the church that looks to an Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople/Istanbul, Bartholomew. This is the 'Eastern Orthodox' church. Bartholomew is not a Pope, but first among equals. Interestingly there is also a Pope within eastern Orthodoxy, but he's the Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, Theodoros II. So in Alexandria you have two Popes, one for the Copts (Tawadros II = Theodore II) and one for the smaller Eastern Orthodox population (Theodoros II, a different Theodore II). Sadly the Roman Catholics haven't selected a Pope Theodore recently so we could get a complete line in Papal bingo.

The differences between the different churches often trace to fallings out over the nature of Christ. Within Eastern Orthodoxy there is a current falling out over the status of the church in Ukraine and there has been a schism between the Russian church and the Ecumenical Patriarchate since 2018.

The Miracle of the Holy Fire happens in Jerusalem in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Holy Saturday. After the lighting of the flame in Christ's tomb the candles and lanterns lit from it are rushed to other churches in the Holy Land and the wider Orthodox world for midnight ceremonies as we enter Easter Sunday. This has become quite a big thing in modern times and specially chartered or even Presidential jets are waiting to transport it to various capitals. The Russians make a very big thing of it, televising its arrival in Moscow for the service which Putin and Medvedev would attend.

Coronavirus has thrown something of a spanner in the works. This year Bulgaria and N Macedonia are going to use last year's flames, which they keep going through the year. However, the Israelis have stated today that 10 empty planes from Russia, Ukraine, Greece, Georgia, Cyprus, Romania, Moldova, Belarus, Poland and Kazakhstan will land in Israel, the crew will not disembark, but will wait until the Holy Fire is brought from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in a police motorcade [source Avi Scharf of Haaretz].