Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. - Over 250 million Orthodox Christians worldwide, including some three million in North America, will observe Easter (Pascha) on April 27, 2008. This year, Orthodox Christans and seekers from throughout South Florida will gather at St. Demetrios Church to participate in the sacred services of Holy Week. All of the Holy Week services will be broadcast on the Web site of the Orthodox Christian Network, and, on Pascha itself, the worship service will be broadcast over the South Florida radio airwaves on AM 1040.

Pascha is the most sacred and holy day of the Orthodox Church’s ecclesiastical year. The Orthodox date for Easter is based on a decree of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, held in 325 A.D. under Emperor Constantine the Great. According to this decree, Easter must be celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon of the vernal equinox but always after the Hebrew Passover to maintain the Biblical sequence of events of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. The Orthodox Christian churches have adhered strictly to this determination of the date of Easter which was definitively regulated by the First Ecumenical Council.

Further information about Orthodox Christianity is available on the Web site of the Orthodox Christian Christian Network (www.MyOCN.net), and by listening to Come Receive the Light, the National Orthodox Radio Program, broadcast throughout South Florida every week on Sunday mornings on WLVJ 1040AM at 8:30 a.m.

For further information or to arrange an interview please contact:
Rev. Dr. Christopher T. Metropulos
St. Demetrios Church
815 NE 15th Avenue
Ft. Lauderdale, Fl 33304
954-467-1515