HAPPY EASTERN ORTHODOX EASTER OR PASCHA!

I think it would be great for all Christians to celebrate Easter on a common date, but the First of May which is actually the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker strikes me as a bit late. Today is the 6th Sunday of Easter for most Christians. I like the idea of Easter as a movable feast and perhaps the calculation for the date that brings it closer to Passover would be the best. A movable Easter date keeps us on our toes and confuses those who exploit it for profit.

What Is Pascha? Ahead Of Orthodox Easter 2016, Russian, Greek And Other Eastern Churches Begin Celebrations [PHOTOS]

By Lydia Tomkiw

Orthodox Christian worshipers from Serbia hold crosses as they walk along Via Dolorosa during the Holy Week Good Friday procession in Jerusalem's Old City, April 29, 2016. Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad

From Greece to Russia, Orthodox Christians around the world are preparing to celebrate Easter Sunday. While many Christians celebrated Easter on March 27 based on the Gregorian calendar, for Orthodox followers who use the Julian calendar the date falls much later this year.
Orthodox Easter also commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ and shares similarities with Western Christian celebrations. Unique traditions from colorful eggs to palm fronds mark the holiday, which some refer to as Pascha from the Greek transliteration.
Orthodox Christian worshipers take part in a procession along the Via Dolorosa on Good Friday during Holy Week in Jerusalem's Old City, April 29, 2016. Photo: Reuters/Amir Cohen
The large celebrations and prayers take place across Orthodox churches after the end of Lent to mark the ascension of Jesus Christ to heaven. There are approximately 200 million to 300 million Orthodox Christians around the world, with large followings in Eastern Europe and the Balkans.
Ethiopian Christian Orthodox priests pray during the Washing of the Feet ceremony, one of the Orthodox Easter celebrations, at the Deir al-Sultan chapel on the roof of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City, April 28, 2016. Photo: GALI TIBBON/AFP/Getty Images

In the streets of Kiev, Ukraine, traditional Ukrainian Easter eggs, known as pysanky, are on display for the holiday. Outside of beautiful, decorative eggs, it is traditional for eggs to be dyed red to symbolize the life and the blood of Jesus Christ. It is common for people to also play games with eggs, banging them against each other. Whoever ends up with the noncracked egg is supposed to have luck for the coming year. Many worshippers also bring baskets full of food and special breads to church Easter Sunday to be blessed.
A woman takes a picture of a traditional Ukrainian Easter egg pysanka, installed as part of the upcoming celebrations of Easter, in central Kiev, Ukraine, April 29, 2016. Photo: Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko
Thousands of people visit Jerusalem every year to take part in Holy Week ceremonies and processions from Palm Sunday until Easter. It is traditional for palm fronds or pussy willow branches to be given out and blessed at church services on Palm Sunday.
An Orthodox priest blesses believers at a church during a Palm Sunday service in Minsk, Belarus, April 24, 2016. Photo: Reuters/Vasily Fedosenko
On Good Friday, Orthodox Christians from around the world gather on Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem to mark the path Jesus Christ took on the way to his crucifixion. Many participants carry large wooden crosses to commemorate the event.
Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Metropolitan Theophilos (center) blesses the crowd during the Washing of the Feet ceremony outside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City, April 28, 2016, ahead of Orthodox Easter. Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad
Next year the Gregorian and Julian calendars align and Easter will fall on April 16 for both Orthodox and Western Christian churches.
An Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Christian priest throws holy water during a Palm Sunday mass in the Samaan el-Kharaz Monastery in the Mokattam Mountain area of Cairo, April 24, 2016. Photo: Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh