Unification of Easter Date with Orthodox Church Seen As Eloquent
Step At An Ecumenical Level
JERUSALEM, March 26, 2013 tnanks to Zenit.org
Catholic communities in Israel,
the Palestinian territories, Jordan and Cyprus are preparing to celebrate the
liturgies of Holy Week in May rather than this Sunday, following the Julian
Calendar followed by the Orthodox communities.
According to Fides News Agency, the unification of the Easter
dates in most of the area is an application of the directive issued on October
15, 2012, by the Assembly of Ordinary Catholic bishops in Holy Land, where it
was established that within two years all Catholics in the Diocese of Latin
Rite and the various Eastern rites will celebrate Easter according to the
Julian calendar, coinciding with the Easter liturgies celebrated in the
Orthodox churches.
The adoption of the Easter date according to the Julian calendar
(which in 2013 falls on May 5) comes into force ‘ad experimentum’ this year in
the whole of the Holy Land, with the exception of the areas of Jerusalem and
Bethlehem, where the Gregorian calendar will continue to be followed to respect
the constraints imposed in the Holy City by the system of the “Status
Quo” (which regulates the coexistence of the different Christian Churches
in Holy Places).
It also takes into account the arrival of pilgrims from all over
the world who come to celebrate Easter in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. “Even
the community of foreign workers in Tel Aviv asked to celebrate Easter
according to the Gregorian rite, so they can enjoy some days off to coincide
with the Jewish Passover,” Bishop William Shomali, Patriarchal Vicar of the
Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, told Fides.
The unification of the date with which Christians of different
confessions celebrate Easter still raises some eyebrows among some Maronite
bishops. It is however for Bishop Shomali an eloquent step at an ecumenical and
testimonial level: “Members of the same family or the same village belong
to different ecclesial realities,” the Patriarchal Vicar noted.
“Now they can celebrate on the same days the passion, death
and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In order to also give a witness of unity with
our non-Christian neighbors.”
By 2015, the provision for a common Easter date should be
confirmed or re-calibrated in accordance with the directions also given by the
Holy See.