19 - 25 April 2001
Issue No.530
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 19 - 25 April 2001 Issue No.530 |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
FORCES COLLIDE: Christians throughout the world shared celebrations on Sunday, commemorating both in the East and the West the resurrection of Christ. A calendar quirk resulted in Easter falling on the same date for Orthodox and Western churches -- an infrequent occurrence that last happened 11 years ago. Both churches agree that Easter should fall on the Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox, but the dates vary among the different sects because Protestant and Catholic Churches follow the 16th-century Gregorian Calendar, while Orthodox churches use the older Julian Calendar.
In Egypt, an estimated 5,000 people attended Pope Shenouda III's mass early Sunday at Cairo's grand Abbasiya Cathedral. Long periods of fasting -- up to 55 days for the strictest Copts -- precede Easter and no meat or animal products of any kind are consumed during the fasts. Minutes after the three-hour-long service ended, many worshippers went home to feast on meats and sweets, but hundreds of other people lingered longer at the cathedral, close to central Cairo, to soak up the festive spirit.
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