🥚 Easter, known as
Fasika in Ethiopia, is the most widely celebrated religious holiday
among Ethiopian Christians—especially followers of the Ethiopian
Orthodox Tewahedo Church. It marks the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
and unlike Western celebrations, Fasika in Ethiopia is deeply
spiritual and filled with rituals that reflect centuries-old
traditions.
Ethiopian Orthodox
Christians celebrate Easter anywhere from a week to two weeks after
the western Church (sometimes, they occur at the same time, due to
the vagaries of the Eastern Orthodox calendar, which Ethiopians
follows). Fasika (Easter) follows eight weeks of fasting from meat
and dairy. On Easter Eve, Ethiopian Christians participate in an
hours-long church service that ends around 3 a.m., after which they
break their fast and celebrate the risen Christ.
The Long Fast Before
Fasika
Leading up to Easter,
Ethiopian Christians observe a two-month-long fasting period called
Hudade, during which they refrain from eating meat, dairy, and eggs.
Most believers fast daily until 3:00 PM, though some may fast until
12:00 PM, except on Saturdays and Sundays. Religious leaders often
fast until 6:00 PM. This period mirrors the biblical sacrifice and
suffering of Jesus Christ.
Easter
Sunday – Joyful Resurrection and Celebration
At midnight or early Sunday morning (around 2–3 AM), church
services are held to celebrate Christ’s resurrection. Families
return home to break the fast with a traditional feast featuring Doro
Wot served with injera. The day is filled with joy as families and
friends gather to eat, drink traditional beverages like tella and
tej, and share laughter. It is the most important Christian
celebration in Ethiopia.
👹 Satan
Hates ♰
Christians: This is The Primary Driver For
The Ongoing Christian Genocide in Ethiopia
♰ Happy
Pascha! The Orthodox Easter Holy Fire From Jerusalem to
The World ✨
Yes, Holy Fire has
descended at about 2:14 PM in Church of Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
It appeared in
the edicule (the small chapel built over the burial place of Christ)
about five minutes after the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem,
Theophilos III, entered there to patiently pray and wait.
After the
Fire’s descent, the Patriarch passed the holy gift to the faithful
who lit from it their bundles of 33 candles, per the age of Christ at
the time of His Crucifixion and Resurrection.
Though the Holy
Sepulchre was closed to pilgrims for forty days from the start of the
war with Iran, it reopened on Holy Thursday, in time for the Holy
Fire and Paschal services.
The descent of
the Light was preceded by a complex ceremony: The doors of the
Sepulchre were sealed with a large wax seal as a sign that its
inspection had finished, and in it was found nothing that would allow
the Patriarch of Jerusalem to light the Fire by any ordinary means.
Shortly before
the arrival of Patriarch Theophilos, the seal was removed from the
door of the edicule, and a large lampada and 33 candles were carried
into the Tomb. Then the Patriarch entered and began to wait. Those
present continually prayed for the granting of the Fire until the
time of its appearing.
❖ The Miracle of Holy
Fire (or Holy Light) is the most important ritual in Christianity and
it happens year after year in the Tomb of Christ, inside the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
It
is an annual celebration of Christ's victory over death and Jesus
himself participates.
Thousands
of Christians throng Jerusalem for the traditional Holy Fire rite
ahead of the Orthodox Easter, despite a security clampdown in the
holy city.
Every
Orthodox Holy Saturday in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulcher,
thousands gather to witness a flame “miraculously” appearing in
the tomb of Jesus.
Orthodox
Christians believe it’s a potent symbol of the resurrection.
It’s
the Church's most important miracle. And it’s believed to have been
happening annually for the past 1,200 years.
The
ritual begins with the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem (or
another Orthodox archbishop), descending into the empty tomb of
Christ within the church and reciting special prayers. A non-Orthodox
Christian is also said to examine the edicule (a small structure
surrounding the tomb) to make sure no oil lamps have been left
burning inside that the patriarch could use to light his candles.
In
the crowded church above the tomb and surrounding the edicule, the
faithful chant with one voice “Kyrie eleison” (Lord, have mercy).
The wait might be long or short but eventually a light is said to
appear in the tomb where the patriarch has been praying alone. He
then lights his candles from this miraculous flame and, accompanied
by the pealing of bells, emerges to spread the fire among the crowd.
The oncedark church becomes illuminated by the miraculous Holy Fire.
It
is said that for the first several minutes the fire burns, but does
not consume. During this time, many of the faithful bathe their faces
and hands in the flame, apparently without being harmed. The flame is
passed from candle to candle and then placed in lanterns so that it
can be spread far and wide.
Chapter: Expulsion of Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula
(21)
“It has been narrated by 'Umar b. al-Khattib that he heard the
Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)
say: I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula
and will not leave any but Muslim.”
The origin of houses
discovered in the 1990s on an island near Abu Dhabi remained a
mystery, until a recent discovery.
Archaeologists
uncovered a plaster cross from 1,400 years ago in a courtyard.
Experts said the cross’
location prove the cluster of houses were once connected to the
local monastery.
Christian
populations were more common in what is now the United Arab Emirates
around the sixth century A.D. Eventually, however, the genocidal
Islamic Jihad started to exterminate Christians
and take hold and dominated the religious environment in the
seventh century.
Archaeologists working at
Abu Dhabi’s Sir Bani Yas Island uncovered the artifact that
features a stepped pyramid representing Golgotha, where Christians
believe Jesus was crucified, and leaves sprouting from its base.
It was found among the ruins
of a church and monastery, suggesting a Christian community
flourished on the island during the seventh and eighth centuries.
Christianity during this
period was typically associated with the Levant, Mesopotamia and
parts of Europe, making the discovery of a thriving community on a
southeastern Arabian Gulf island both unexpected and historically
significant.
At the same time, the region
was undergoing profound religious change as Islam was rising and
spreading rapidly across Arabia, while older pagan traditions
lingered and Christianity was thought to be fading.
However, the presence of a
flourishing Christian settlement here challenges that assumption.
Maria Gajewska, lead
archaeologist at the site, said: 'Every element of the cross
incorporates regional motifs.
'It tells us that
Christianity in this region was not only present but flourished,
adapting visually to its local context. We had settlements of
Christians that were not just existing but were clearly thriving.'
The 1,400-year-old cross was
unearthed in Abu Dhabi, suggesting Christianity spread much farther
than previously believed
The 1,400-year-old cross was
unearthed in Abu Dhabi, suggesting Christianity spread much farther
than previously believed
The cross is about 10.6
inches long, 6.7 inches wide, and roughly 0.8 inches thick.
Archaeologists believe it
could have been an object of veneration and placed on a wall with
worshippers kneeling before it.
Evidence of a church and
monastery on Sir Bani Yas, dating to the seventh and eighth
centuries, was first uncovered in the early 1990s.
Another monastery, likely
linked to the same church, was discovered on an island in Umm Al
Quwain in 2022. Similar sites have also been identified in Kuwait,
Iran, and Saudi Arabia.
Archaeologists are still
investigating why the Sir Bani Yas settlement declined.
✞
Crucifixion | On That Day,
Children of Christ Became Christians &
Children of the Antichrist Muslims
✞ Today millions of
Orthodox Christians commemorate Good Friday, also known as “Great
Friday” to remember the events leading up to Jesus' Crucifixion.
In
Ethiopia, Good Friday is
known locally as Siklet which translates to Crucifixion of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is a day of fasting, intense prayer and
prostrations.
Followers of Ethiopian
Orthodox Churches share the religious tradition with other Orthodox
Churches. In Ethiopia, churches outside the Ethiopian Orthodox Church
including Catholic celebrate the good Friday along with the Ethiopian
Church.
Good Friday is the holiday
that Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was crucified for the salvation of
human race. He was beaten hard, spited on and dragged with a robe all
the way through to Calvary.
After His capture betrayed
by Judas on Thursday eve subsequent to His prayer in Gethsemane, the
Jews took Him and started their torture. Early morning on this Holy
Friday, Lord Jesus Christ was brought to trial in front of the Jewish
leader Pilate. Convicted for a crime He did not commit, Lord Jesus
was tortured and tormented until He reached to the Calvary for
crucifixion. Upon it was revealed miracles including the darkening of
the sun, the bleeding of the moon and the falling of the stars whilst
Lord Jesus Christ separated His divine soul from His body at the
ninth hour. Then after, Joseph and Nicodimus took His holy body and
buried it.
✞ A chapter in one of
the Prayer books (The Passion of Cross or Himamat Meskel) of the
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church teaches us the following very
important lesson:
“They did not
know, but I was crucified and reigned over the righteous and the
martyrs, so the Jews who saw those 7 miracles being done, were called
Christians because they said that it could only be a God of nature
who is showing us these miracles, and if He was not a God of nature,
such miracles would not have been done.„
And,
☪ “Those
who deny the divinity of Jesus by saying, „He is not God, He was
not born, He is not The Son of God, God doesn't have a son, He was
not crucified, He is only a friend of God, a good man and just a
prophet; They are called Muslims, or followers of Islam. It was on
that very day that Islam and Christianity were called as such.”
May God
accept our prayer, fasting and all our endeavors on the great lent
and redeem us; Amen!
The
Good Friday procession of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Jerusalem
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