Lockdown weighs heavily on Orthodox Christians during Easter

For Orthodox Christians, this is normally a time of reflection and communal mourning followed by joyful release, of centuries-old ceremonies steeped in symbolism and tradition.

But this year, Easter - by far the most significant religious holiday for the world's roughly 300 million Orthodox - has essentially been canceled.

There will be no Good Friday processions behind the flower-bedecked symbolic bier of Christ, to the haunting hymn of the Virgin Mary's lament for the death of her son. No hugs and kisses, or joyous proclamations of "Christ is risen!" as church bells ring at midnight on Holy Saturday. No family gatherings over lamb roasted whole on a spit for an Easter lunch stretching into the soft spring evening.
As the coronavirus rampages across the globe, claiming tens of thousands of lives, governments have imposed lockdowns in a desperate bid to halt the...