Christians of different traditions around the world have observed Easter today, many amid violence and mourning.
More than 100 villagers on the tsunami-stricken Solomon Islands left their hillside camps to celebrate an Easter service at St. Luke's Anglican Church on the outskirts of Gizo.They said prayers for those who died from last week's earthquake and tsunami that flattened several villages and killed more than two dozen people, and sang traditional hymns in a concrete church decorated with tropical flowers and palm leaves. The pastor, the Rev. John Pihavaka, urged his flock to remain calm and to share their remaining food and other provisions with those in greater need.
"We pray, especially for those people," one worshipper, 33-year-old Furner Smith Arebonato, told The Associated Press.
Solomon Islanders are predominantly Christian, and at least five churches of various denominations dot the hillsides around Gizo, according to AP. The Roman Catholic church was knocked down by the quake, but devotees gathered in the garden for their own Easter ceremony to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, three days after his crucifixion.
Meanwhile in Iraq, the dwindling Christian minority donned their Sunday best and prayed for peace and security during quiet Easter celebrations at home, fearful of the bombings and abductions terrorizing Baghdad's streets.
"Despite the sorrow and pain, we have been preparing for the feast, which is upon us, buying new clothes for the children," said Hiyam, a 42-year-old mother of two arriving for the traditional Catholic mass with her husband, according to Agence France-Presse.
The Iraqi Christian community, which stood at more than one million people before the 1991 Gulf War and is one of the oldest in the world, has shrunk over the years, with more and more people fleeing Iraq's insecurity for safer shores.
Also in Iraq, about 200 Southern Baptist soldiers held a sunrise Easter service led by U.S. Army Capt. Bruce Wagner. Wagner, a chaplain, regularly leads service for a small congregation of soldiers each week, reported The Cullman Times. The group met earlier in the week for a Good Friday service.
