Easter is not over for all Christians.
One week after the somber and symbolic Good Friday services recalling the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in Roman Catholic and Protestant Christian churches, Holy Friday services will commemorate the same event today in Eastern Orthodox churches.
And at dramatic services leading to the midnight junction between Saturday and Sunday, all lights will be extinguished in Orthodox churches. Christ`s resurrection will be proclaimed at midnight, and a priest will enter from the sanctuary carrying a solitary candle.
From it, with help from altar boys, candles will be lit throughout the church, including those given to each worshiper. Soon, the church will be bathed in light symbolizing Christ`s truth.
”Part of the tradition is for each of us to try to keep the candles burning all the way home after services,” said Helen Theodosakis. ”It means bringing the truth and light of resurrection. . . . and good luck.
”Sometimes, driving home, you can tell fellow Orthodox Christians by the cars with lighted candles inside,” she laughed.
Orthodox Easter tends to get anticlimactic second billing to the Easter of other Christians, which usually precedes it by a week, and sometimes by as much as a month.
But at least one irreverent quip cites that calendar position as a great advantage to Orthodox Easter: ”All the Easter baskets and candy are on sale.”
One reason for the different times of celebration is that Orthodox Easter is never celebrated before the Jewish holiday of Passover. Due to idiosyncrasies of the different calendars used by the different religions, Catholic and Protestant Easter sometimes precedes Passover, although biblical references to the Last Supper speak of it as a Passover meal.
Another dramatic difference between the two Easters is that Orthodox Easter eggs are all colored red to symbolize the blood of Jesus.
Just as Easter traditions of the Chicago area`s 250,000 Orthodox Christians aren`t as well known as those of the 4 million-plus other Christians who celebrated Easter last week, there is a long-standing philanthropic tradition among them that has also thrived with little notoriety.
Paralleling the immigrant-to-mainstream experience of the Greek Orthodox Church as the largest Eastern Orthodox group in America, the Philoptochos Society is celebrating its 60th anniversary in this country.
Philoptochos is Greek for ”friend of the poor.”
The society is the designated philanthropic arm of the Greek Orthodox Church of North and South America. Arguably its most unusual facets are that all 3,600 members in 550 chapters are women; their part-time but intense voluntary efforts raise and disburse $1 million a year; and because of the high level of voluntarism, the only administrative expenses are salaries of a director and two social workers.
Helen Theodosakis is a member of the society`s national board. In addition, she is past president of the Chicago Diocese Philoptochos, whose 54 chapters span six Midwestern states, and chairman of its philanthropy fund. All are voluntary positions.
Chicago is the only diocese that has its own charitable fund separate from the national office in New York.
For the most part, the society and its projects have been a well-kept secret.
Projects approved by board members range from helping struggling families pay rent or medical costs to contributing to shelters and food kitchens, including operating a food kitchen twice a month at Annunciation Cathedral, 1017 N. LaSalle St.
Only on rare occasions does the society make public its involvement in a project.
One such occasion was in 1987, when a 5-year-old girl named Eleni Panidou came to Chicago from her village in Greece for an operation impossible there and daunting here.
By peeling back skin, cracking and rearranging bones, doctors at Michael Reese Hospital operated to remake Eleni`s face, which had been misshapen by a genetic disease called Apert Syndrome.
For that operation, subsequent medical expenses, and a return expected in a couple of years for follow-up surgery, the Philoptochos Society created and maintains an investment fund.
While most of the society`s projects involve Greek Orthodox, ”we are not as parochial as we used to be,” Theodosakis said. ”We look to help where we can, regardless of ethnicity, race or religion.”
That has included donating to earthquake relief projects, and to dramatic surgery and an ongoing and costly series of infusions of antibodies for Sheri Ferris, 12, a Roman Catholic in St. Louis. Her respiratory problems at birth required that she breathe through an air tube in her throat for five years and will require monthly hospital treatment for the rest of her life.
Philoptochos` Chicago chapter and its philanthropy fund, which began with a $50,000 annual budget when it was established in 1986, have set a fund-raising goal of $100,000 for this year. A kickoff event will be a 60th anniversary benefit dinner-dance May 1 at the Chateau Ritz in Niles.
In Eastern Orthodoxy, the week after Easter is called ”bright week.” As with other rites of spring, it is a time to renew commitments. And Philoptochos has found one way to keep the candles burning.
