Christians in Kochi city celebrated Easter with traditional ceremonies on Sunday. Cardinal George Alencherry, major archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church, led the ceremonies that began at the St. Mary's Basilica at 11.45 p.m. on Saturday, culminating in the celebration of the Easter.
Joseph Mor Gregorios, metropolitan trustee of the Jacobite Syrian Church, in an Easter message called for reconcilliation among people. He said the resurrection of Jesus was a message to bring people together and bring peace. The Easter celebrations also send out a message for spiritual transformation, he added.
John Joseph, vicar of the Broadway Immanuel CSI Church in the city, led the ceremonies at the church.
An all-religion celebration of Easter, including an Easter breakfast, was organised at the Chavara Cultural Centre in the city with Father Thomas Chathamparambil leading the celebrations. Noted academic M.K. Sanoo, T.J. Vinod, MLA, Swami Shivaswaroopananda and Hussain Moulavi were among those who participated in the celebrations.
Easter celebrations are the culmination of the Holy Week observances by Christians, which begin with Palm Sunday when Jesus is believed to have entered the city of Jerusalem. The week also sees Good Friday on which the crucifixion and death of Jesus is recalled.
Forum’s claim
In the meanwhile, Almaya Munnettam, a group of lay people in the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly, claimed that vast majority of the parishes and religious institutions in the archdiocese had celebrated the Easter Mass with the celebrant facing the congregation (faithful attending the Mass) against a call by Cardinal Alencherry and the synod of bishops to shift to a uniform system of Mass celebration from Easter day.
The synod had issued a diktat that the uniform Mass celebration would involve the priest facing the congregation for the first half and then face the altar for the second half. The lay people's group claimed that only five of the 420 churches, where Mass was celebrated, followed the uniform Mass system on Sunday.
