Protodeacon Patrick Mitchell, from the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Washington, DC, tells Fox News Digital about Orthodox traditions during Lent.
While most of the world's Christians began their observance of Lent this year on Feb. 14, 2024, those whose denominations follow the Julian calendar will observe their first day of Lent on March 18, 2024. These include, but are not limited to, Orthodox Christians, Coptic Christians and some Eastern Catholic churches.
It is pretty much a general fast from meat and dairy,' he said. 'Of course, it depends on what people are able to do. I don't think anybody expects children to keep this fast.' But, he said, many people do — which makes the celebration at Easter 'quite an event.' The date of Pascha is a unifying factor of the world's Orthodox churches, said Mitchell.
Even though there are many Orthodox churches on the calendar, we all celebrate Pascha on the old calendar,' he said. Easter, he said, is 'the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox,' he said. The church uses the Julian calendar, which is 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar — which is used by most of the world. Occasionally, the date of Easter is the same for both calendars. This happened most recently in 2017, and will happen again in 2025.
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