Faith Overflows As Orthodox Break Their Fast
The Sunday Age
Sunday April 23, 2006
THERE are probably a few Orthodox Russians reading these pages with sore heads and full stomachs this morning. Six hours of vodka and feasting can have that effect.
Members of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity parish, in Parkville, yesterday continued their preparations for Easter, which falls today for Orthodox Christians, in accordance with the Julian calendar.At their morning service, readings from the Old Testament foretelling the coming, the death and the resurrection of the Messiah rang through the church. Parishioners also brought cakes - kulich - to be blessed by Father Igor Filianovsky. The cakes bore the iced initials "XB", standing for Khristos Voskres ("Christ is risen").The mood was solemn, but on the verge of becoming more buoyant. In the Russian tradition, a midnight service is followed by joyous celebration - a contrast to the Great Lent period of abstinence before Easter."We come home, the table is set and people end up having feasts until about six in the morning," parish secretary Marina Tolmachev explained, laughing. "We're going to be drinking lots of vodka and eating lots of nice stuff: meat and meat, meat and meat. The traditional greeting is 'Christ is risen, he is risen indeed', and you'll notice people kissing each other three times."The Trinity parish is an exemplar of multicultural Melbourne: though its traditions are uniquely Russian, the services are held in English and the parishioners range from Anglo-Saxon to Vietnamese - united by their shared faith.
© 2006 The Sunday Age