"We had two times
to celebrate and two vacations. My father's family gave us gifts on the Greek
Orthodox date, and my mother's family on the Catholic," said Rafidi, the
son of a Catholic mother and a Greek Orthodox father.
But today the Christian
community has shrunk, and it is important that the celebrations be united, he
said. Employers honor vacation on only one of the celebrations, putting
pressure on families to decide which to celebrate, he said.
"The Muslims
always ask us how many Jesuses we have," he said.
There are many families
like Rafidi's, both in Israel and the Palestinian territories, with members
belonging to the Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Protestant churches.
For the past 15 years,
Catholic parishes throughout the Palestinian territories and many in Israel
have been celebrating Easter on the Greek Orthodox date. Now, following a
directive from the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land, within two
years all Eastern Catholics and the Latin Patriarchate in the Holy Land will
officially adopt the Greek Orthodox Julian calendar date.
The Latin Patriarchate
calls the move a "decisive step toward ecumenism." The official
directive will take place after completion of the decree and approval by the
Vatican.
"The main reason
for the unification of the Easter celebration is for members of the same
family, village and parish to be able to have one celebration, and one
calendar, and to show the unity and enjoy the unity. We want to give a good
example of unity to our non-Christian neighbors," said the Latin
Patriarchate chancellor, Auxiliary Bishop William Shomali.
The Latin-rite diocese
of the Holy Land includes Israel, the Palestinian territories and Cyprus.
Parishes in Jerusalem and the Bethlehem, West Bank, area will be exempt this
year because of the Status Quo, the 1852 agreement that preserved the division
of ownership and responsibilities of various Christian holy sites. The parish
in Tel Aviv has also received an exemption for this year since there are many
foreign workers who are members of the parish.
The Greek Orthodox
Church follows the Julian calendar and did not adopt the Gregorian calendar,
which was implemented by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 to correct a miscalculation
in the rotation of the earth.
Next year, Easter falls
on the same day according to both calendars, so the change by decree will only
be adopted in 2015.
The spirit of the
holiday is lost if it is celebrated on separate dates, said Father Raed
Abusahlia of Holy Family Parish in Ramallah, West Bank. Easter in the Eastern Church
is all of Holy Week, starting with Palm Sunday, and includes special prayers
during the week, he said.
"The liturgy is
very beautiful if done together as a family. It can't be spiritual if it is
only part of the family," he said. During the week following Easter there
are traditional holiday family visits as well, he added.
Father Ilario
Antoniazzi of St Anthony Parish in Rameh, Israel, has been celebrating Easter
with the Greek Orthodox for 15 years; he said the date is not important.
"The most
important thing is to be together on the feast, to give a good example of our love
and to show that we are united in our love," he said.
In the northern Israeli
port city of Haifa, the change did not come easily for some parishioners, said
Father Agapios Abu Saada of St Elijah Melkite Catholic Cathedral, who has been
pivotal in pushing for unifying the celebration.
"My experience in
seeking solidarity ... was not a smooth one," he said. "The decision
was not unified even within the same congregation."
He said those initially
opposed to the idea were swayed by the joint religious processions during Holy
Week.
"Unifying the
feast is a vivid Christian testimony in a multicultural and multi-religious
society," he said. "Christians in the Holy Land are a minority that
keeps dividing itself to inner minorities within the minority, creating diverse
sub-communities ... which deteriorate the goal of Christians as one
unrestricted community living in a multicultural and multi-religious
society."
Father Abusahlia said
some of his parishioners are "a little bit disturbed" because the
Greek Orthodox Easter comes so late this year: May 05.
"In the past
years, we celebrated it together or with a difference of one week, so they
didn't feel it. Now it is very late, with a difference of 35 days. But we will
celebrate together, it is good and important," said he said.
The change also
involves celebrating Lent and the period between Easter and Pentecost, said
Bishop Shomali.
"Christmas is just
Christmas and Epiphany, but when we unify the calendar (on Easter) we are
unifying 90 days of the year. It is important," he said.
He said he would be
happy to see the unified celebration adopted universally by all Christians.
"The solution is
to fix one Sunday in April as the date," he said.
Bishop Shomali said
although the Catholics did not ask the Greek Orthodox Church to celebrate
Christmas according to the Gregorian calendar, he expects they will do so to
unite Christians for that feast.
(Catholic News Service)
