Resurrection hailed in many lands

Press, 24 April 1984, Page 6

Resurrection hailed in many lands

NZPA-AP Jerusalem Millions of Christians around the world celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Day, praying in the splendour of the Vatican, among the ancient stones of Jerusalem, and before altars in the small churches and great cathedrals of many lands. Russians baked holy cakes. Hungarians feasted according to traditions centuries old. Poles filled their churches for Mass. And in Paris church bells pealed across the city, sending flights of pigeons into skies shimmering with springtime sun. In China thousands of Chinese Christians crowded Communist sanctioned churches, and more than 100 foreigners gathered for sunrise services atop China’s Great Wall on the hills north of Peking. More than 350,000 people attended a Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II at the

Vatican, and he greeted them in 45 languages. Hundreds of thousands more gathered at the foot of a mountain in remote Moira, South Africa, for outdoor Protestant services. At Canterbury Cathedral, 80km east of London, the Most Rev. Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury, told his Anglican flock that Christ’s Resurrection had forged the Christian belief in healing energy that followed the destruction of his Crucifixion. “This is the power that Jesus has let loose in the world,” Dr Runcie said. “Its evidence is to be seen everywhere hatred is transformed into love, bitterness into serenity, violence into peace.” Many celebrants used the day to make strong statements. The Pope, speaking to Catholic pilgrims in front of St Peter’s Basilica, appealed for an end to the “feverish preparation” of war

materials and for a halt to torture and terrorism. He said that material wealth co-existed with the “extreme poverty and penury paid for with the death through hunger or thirst of millions.” After the Mass, which was televised live to 36 countries, the Pope entered

the Basilica to close the Holy Door he opened on March 25, 1983, at the start of the special Holy Year commemorating the* 1950th anniversary of Christ’s death.

The Pope surprised even some of his closest aides in December, 1982, when he announced a special jubilee year of the Redemption. Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, the Vatican Secretary of State, said that the Pope considered the Holy Year to be the happiest days of his pontificate so far.

Towards the end of the Mass about 10,000 people marched to the Vatican to protest against hunger and nuclear arms. The demonstration was organised by peace and disarmament groups. Tens of thousands of demonstrators, including 19,000 in Hamburg, marched through dozens of West German cities to protest against American nuclear

missiles and the policies of President Ronald Reagan. In the Pope's native Poland Cardinal Jozef Glemp said Mass and praised the determination of high school students who rebelled against attempts by Communist authorities to remove crucifixes from school walls.

The “crucifix crusade” ended on April 6 when the authorities agreed to permit a few crucifixes to remain in the schools.

Brazilians traditionally thrash effigies of Judas, the betrayer of Jesus, at Eastertime. In the streets of Rio de Janeiro, youngsters clubbed effigies labelled, “Mr Indirect Elections,” and, “Mr Inflation,” references to demands for direct Presidential elections and protests against economic woes.

Several thousand Christian pilgrims gathered to celebrate the Resurrection at Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built where tradition says Jesus died and returned to life.

In Hungary Easter was celebrated with feats of ham and hard-boiled eggs. Men sprinkled women, young and old, with perfume and presented them with elaborately dyed Easter eggs. Hundreds of thousands

gathered at Moira, 300 km north of Johannesburg, for Easter services. The Zionist Christian Church baked 72.000 loaves of bread, stockpiled a quarter-million bottles of soft-drinks, and slaughtered 100 cattle to prepare for the event.

In the Soviet Union Easter coincided with the birthday of Vladimir Lenin, founder of the militantly atheist Communist State.

In Zagorsk, the spiritual centre of Russian Orthodoxy, thousands of believers braved a cordon of soldiers, police, plainclothesmen, and security volunteers for a midnight Mass that lasted until dawn in the Trinity Monastery of St Sergius, about 64km north of Moscow.

Soviet citizens flocked to churches by the thousands and celebrated the holiday with Easter eggs and holy cakes.