A Photo Essay. A Point of Unity… Holy Week and Easter as Seen by Russian Eyes…

Objet d’art Easter Egg from Slovenia.

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Young man jumping over a fire on Holy Wednesday. Tiblisi (Tbilisi Region) GEORGIA

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Man playing a guitar in the ruined cathedral. Port-au-Prince (Port-au-Prince Arrondissement. West Département) HAITI

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Man praying after Easter services. Abidjan (Abidjan Département. Lagunes Region) CÔTE D’IVOIRE

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Little girl in Holy Week Procession. Málaga (Málaga Province. Autonomous Community of  Andalucía) SPAIN

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Benedict XVI Ratzinger (1927- ), the Pope of Rome, at Easter services at St Peter Basilica. VATICAN CITY (totally surrounded by ROME Italy)

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Girl running from the Douche Guys on Easter Monday. Hollókő (Nógrád County. Northern Hungary Region) HUNGARY

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Holy Fire in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Jerusalem ISRAEL (legally Jerusalem District, de facto occupied Palestine)

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Easter Egg hunt. Burlington IA USA

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Pilgrims on Holy Friday in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Jerusalem ISRAEL (legally Jerusalem District, de facto occupied Palestine)

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Ceremony of Saytopolemos on Holy Saturday evening. Agrinio (Aetolia-Acarnania Subperiphery. West Greece Periphery) GREECE

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Easter services in Coptic parish church. Cairo (Cairo Governorate) EGYPT

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Easter Parade on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. New York City NY USA

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Benedict XVI Ratzinger (1927- ), the Pope of Rome, giving his “Urbis et Orbi” blessing at St Peter Basilica. VATICAN CITY (completely surrounded by Rome ITALY)

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Easter amongst Old Ritualists. Poteryaevka (Altai Krai. Siberian Federal District) RF

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Holy Week Procession. Pietraperzia (Enna Province. Sicilian Autonomous Region) ITALY

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Believers in prayer on the Ethiopian side of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Jerusalem ISRAEL (legally Jerusalem District, de facto occupied Palestine)

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Soldiers of the Spanish Legion hoist up the Paso on Holy Thursday. Málaga (Málaga Province. Autonomous Community of  Andalucía) SPAIN

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Blessing of animals and people on St George Day. Traunstein (Traunstein Kreis. Bavaria) GERMANY

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Porcession of Catholic monks at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Jerusalem ISRAEL (legally Jerusalem District, de facto occupied Palestine)

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Chinese believers at Easter services at the Catholic cathedral. Beijing (Direct-Controlled City of Beijing) PRC

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Patriarch Bartholomew Archontonis (1940- ) of Constantinople New Rome at Easter services at St George Church in the Phanar. Istanbul (Istanbul Province. Marmara Region) TURKEY

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Nuns at Easter services at St Dmitri Convent. Skopje (City of Greater Skopje. Skopje Region) MACEDONIA

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Easter service at Chaldean Catholic parish of the Virgin Mary. Baghdad (Baghdad Governorate) IRAQ

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Kids with candles at Easter services. Moscow (Federal City of Moscow. Central Federal District) RF

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Woman praying on Palm Sunday in Our Lady of Fatima Church. Islamabad (Islamabad Capital Territory) PAKISTAN

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Little girl dressed as an angel on Holy Saturday. Ciudad de México (Federal District) MEXICO

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Easter Eggs. Bucharest (Municipality of  Bucharest. Bucureşti-Ilfov Region) ROMANIA

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Chaldean Catholics praying on Easter in Baghdad. (Baghdad Governorate) IRAQ

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Chinese Catholics praying on Easter. Beijing (Direct-Controlled City of Beijing) PRC

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Woman lighting a candle in St Mary Church. Raikia (Kandhmal District. Odisha State) INDIA

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Easter services in Catholic church. Xiaohan (Direct-Controlled City of Tianjin) PRC

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A Multimedia Presentation. This was Victory Day 2011 in Moscow…

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G K Ots sings “Russian People Don’t Want War!”

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“What I wouldn’t give for a pair of flats right now!” Can’t you just hear the female kursanti (cadets) saying that? I do. Yes, Virginia… there are times when comfort trumps “dressiness”, and most people would prefer a somewhat longer skirt for convenience’s sake, too (but not TOO long, if you catch my drift)…

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G K Ots sings “Sevastopol Waltz”…

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The Naval Infantry… “the Black Death”… the best of the best…

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The VDV… the Airborne Forces are separate from the Army in Russia… they’d beg to differ with the Naval Infantrymen… the Spetsnaz are part of the VDV

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“For His Friends”… an excellent 45-minute documentary on the role of the Orthodox Church in the Second Great Patriotic War… although the narration is in Russian, it’s worth watching for the images… they tell a story independent of any language. It’s why “a picture is worth a thousand words”, kids.

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OUR HEROES! Thank them, give them a hug and kiss, and clink a glass with them. They won’t be with us much longer…

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Vladimir “Mad Vlad” Zhirinovsky (1946- ), Deputy Speaker of the RF Gosduma and leader of the LDP faction, greets a young celebrant on Red Square for the Victory Day festivities…

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Boris Mokrusov sings “The Roads to the Front”…

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Thank them, while we still can!

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March of the Soviet Tankmen

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“Glory to our fathers!” How much do you wanna bet that she’s holding a photo of her own pop? They were, indeed, a GREAT generation… 

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The nationalists marched after the Communists… they have much in common… both are patriotic and both are mostly Orthodox… and both oppose American hegemonism, along with the toilet-bowl “culture” and money-grubbing godless consumerism of the USA… 

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My intent was to focus on the “people” of Victory Day… not the “heavy metal”… if you want that, those images are all over the web. THIS is what it’s all about, kids… the Great Victory lives in the hearts of the people… as long as the Great Victory lives there, the idea of the Soviet Union lives there, too. The Communists repented of their sins against the Church; it’s our duty to forgive them, as they’ve asked that, and they’ve shown their sincere repentance through their actions (something that certain American churchmen have REFUSED to do). Hell, Gennady Andreyevich is a believing and communing Orthodox Christian, what more do you want? You can march proudly with the genuine heroes of the Second Great Patriotic War, or, you can cast shit at them like common street thugs do, along with the Galician Uniates and Vlasovtsy. It’s your choice. I choose to honour and respect our TRUE heroes! They (along with their deserving comrades from the forces of the other powers in the Anti-Fascist Coalition) saved the world from the Nazi nightmare. What do you think?

BMD