Costas Iordanidis
cior@otenet.gr
This year’s Easter feels different from anything even the oldest people in this country can remember. Hell has opened its gates in a region that for centuries has been a meeting ground of civilizations and religions.
For a week, devout Christians have followed the Passion of Jesus in church with reverence and sorrow. We celebrate the Resurrection of the God-Man, who overcame death, the final enemy of humankind.
Jesus’ time on earth coincides with the founding of the Roman Empire in 27 BC. It was a period when the West, the center of civilization and worldly power, had already united political, religious, and military authority in one man, Octavian Augustus.
A new order was beginning to take shape when Jesus performed miracles, preached in Judea, was crucified, and rose again, foretelling the resurrection of the dead. His teaching was difficult to grasp and beyond ordinary understanding.
In 51 AD, when the Apostle Paul arrived in Athens, the city of wisdom, curious and intellectually eager Athenians gathered to hear what this “babbler” had to say. But when they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some mocked him, while others said they would hear him again another time. Even so, Christianity went on to prevail in the West.
Nowadays, the leader of the Free World is trying to impose a new global order by force, casting himself in the role of an emperor in the 21st century. After threatening to destroy a civilization that is centuries old if those in power in Tehran did not accept his terms, a fifteen-day ceasefire was announced.
It would be a mistake, however, to judge the actions of today’s leaders by the standards of Christian teaching. When the Pharisees asked Jesus whether they should pay taxes to the emperor, he answered, “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and unto God what is God’s.”
In today’s largely agnostic society, each leader and each citizen gives Easter whatever meaning they choose. A week ago Monday, the day after Western Christians celebrated the Resurrection, U.S. President Donald Trump, standing alongside his wife and the Easter Bunny, began praising the strength of the American armed forces.
Humanity is at war with Iran and hopes to prevail. Since ancient times in the Eastern world, eggs have symbolized rebirth. Christians adopted that symbolism and connected eggs with the Resurrection of the God-Man.
As early as the 13th century in England, during the reign of Edward I of England, eggs were distributed at Easter. In 1725, the “widow Giambone,” a confectioner in Turin, created the first chocolate egg. Everything has its own history.
In closing, a blessed Resurrection to all, however each person chooses to understand it.
