According to Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus, “it is clearer than ever that the West celebrates correctly only when it follows the East.”
Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus of the Greek Orthodox Church said that Orthodox Christians cannot celebrate Easter together with Catholics. He reminded the Orthodoxwho want, starting from 2025, to celebrate Easter on the same day as the RCC, which, According to the rules of the Church, the celebration of Easter should be celebrated on the Sunday following the full moon of the first spring month, that is, the month whose full moon either coincides with the vernal equinox or occurs after this day.
But according to him, “The papists not only violate the decree of the First Ecumenical Council, but also often celebrate before or in parallel with the Jewish Passover.” He emphasized that “It is clearer than ever that the West celebrates correctly only when it follows the East.”
“After the holy First Ecumenical Council and what was established by the Divine Fathers through the Holy Spirit, the definition of Easter is no longer a matter of astronomical precision, but obeys the eternal decree of the Holy Spirit,” – said Metropolitan Seraphim.
He also believes that the joint “celebration of Holy Easter with heretics is a denial of the canonical framework of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and therefore of the Holy Spirit abiding in it.”
Metropolitan Seraphim recalled that the rules of the Church “they categorically prohibit communication with Jews and heretics, any communication with whom entails excommunication and separation from the Church.”
The hierarch stated that the rule for celebrating Easter is unchanged for the Orthodox Church, and changing it “is a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit and the Divine inspiration of the Church, which teaches that the Holy Spirit dwells in it, and that communication with heretics, such as modern anti-Chalcedonians, Romans -Catholics and Protestants, canonically impossible.”
Communication with heretics, the bishop is sure, “entails tragic canonical consequences, corrupts Orthodox self-consciousness and distorts the indestructible revelation of the Eternal God through the holy apostles, God-bearing fathers and holy councils.”
According to Hierarch of Phanar Job (Gechi), the Julian calendar is outdated, Orthodox Christians use old tables to determine the date of the full moon and, as a result, cannot celebrate with all Christians. Only one thing is unclear: if the tables are old, then what about the spring equinox? Is it now also defined in a new way? Is this how it should be understood?
More Stories
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday, “breaking” fasting, and what you can eat
The Olympic flame began its journey to Marseille on the sailing ship Belen