Eastern christian

Eastern Christian tradition requires that the day recalling Gospel accounts of Jesus’ resurrection be observed after the start of the Jewish holiday of Passover, in keeping with the sequence in the New Testament.

It is now a modern Turkish city called Trabzon. But in the Middle Ages, it was the fabled seat of the last remnant of the Byzantine Empire and the Eastern Christian church after European crusaders sacked Constantinople in 1204.

“This action would affirm the ancient and legitimate Eastern Christian tradition and would assure the Orthodox that, in the event of the restoration of full communion between the two churches, the traditions of the Orthodox Church would not be questioned,” the group said in a statement on Friday.

However, the pope has remained silent about the systematic destruction of the Eastern Christian Church. He hasn’t supported Egyptian President Abdel Fatta el-Sisi, who is trying to break the stranglehold that the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood still has on Egypt.

But few Orthodox Christians are likely to show up. That’s because the liturgical high point for Eastern Christians comes at midnight tonight when darkened church interiors are brightened to proclaim “Christ is Risen.”

All the bloodletting began when the head of the Eastern Christians, Emperor Alexis, called upon his chief rival, Pope Urban II, to send mercenaries to help him get rid of the Turks who had attacked his empire.

Under Islamic rule, Eastern Christians lived as protected people, dhimmi: They were subservient and had to pay the jizya, but were often allowed to observe practices forbidden by Islam, including eating pork and drinking alcohol.