Orthodox Easter services hit by virus as many stay at home

More than 260 million Orthodox Christians celebrated Easter Sunday, including the Orthodox community in Turkey, with church leaders urging worshippers to stay at home to avoid spreading the novel coronavirus.

While many watched services online or on television, some sidestepped virus fears to attend churches on the most important date in the Orthodox calendar.

In the historical Mor Behnam (Kırklar) Church in the southeastern province of Mardin, where people of different languages and religions have lived together peacefully for centuries, the clergy organized a ritual for the Easter.

Hymns in Turkish, Arabic, Hebrew and Syriac were read in the ritual held with a limited number of participants.

After the ceremony, the clergy celebrated the participants in accordance with the rules of social distance, lit a candle and prayed.

The officials broadcast the ritual live on social media, allowing Syriac citizens to watch at their homes.

However, in Istanbul, where thousands of Orthodox live, Fener Greek Patriarch ordered services to be closed to the public and broadcast online.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on April 12 released a message marking Easter.

Erdoğan extended his best wishes to "all Christian citizens and the Christian community on the occasion of Easter."

Officials versus clerics

In Georgia, several hundred took part in a midnight mass at Tbilisi's Holy Trinity Cathedral after the government allowed public attendance despite a nightly curfew aimed at curbing the virus.

Jerusalem's Old City is normally packed for Orthodox Easter but was almost deserted at the weekend under Israel's strict lockdown measures.

In Russia, the Patriarch Kirill, who leads...