Easter Celebrated in Dozens of Languages : Holiday: Diverse observances of the Gospel account of a resurrected Christ are scheduled throughout the Southland.

As Christians worldwide prepare for Easter, nowhere will the worship and celebrations better reflect the ethnic and cultural diversity of the world’s 1.79 billion Christians than in Southern California.

From candle-lit Orthodox and Roman Catholic cathedrals to humble churches in the low-income neighborhoods of Los Angeles, variations of the joyous proclamation--”Alleluia, Christ is Risen, The Lord has risen indeed, Alleluia”--will be lifted up in dozens of languages, including English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Armenian, Finnish, German, Greek, Russian and Tagalog.

Celebrated this Sunday by churches in the Western tradition and next Sunday by Orthodox Christians, Easter is the preeminent holiday for devout Christians, an observance of far greater importance than Christmas. In Christian dogma, Easter is the culmination of God’s intervention in human history, the reconciliation of an imperfect world to a perfect Creator.

The Gospel account of the empty tomb, viewed by many millions of faithful as an actual bodily Resurrection, is also viewed as an opportunity for renewal and reconciliation in the lives of individual Christians.

Common to virtually all traditions are the ubiquitous Easter egg hunts that delight children. The egg, an ancient symbol of life, has long been adopted as suitable for celebrating the Resurrection.

Among Orthodox Christians it is customary to hold a contest in which two individuals tap their Easter eggs together to see whose egg will break first. “Cracking an egg symbolizes resurrection, the opening of the tomb,” said the Very Rev. Father James T. Adams, dean of St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Los Angeles. The holder of the cracked egg says, “Christ is risen” and gives the egg to his or her partner, who replies, “Truly he has risen.”

In the Antiochian Orthodox churches, Christians from the Middle East--particularly Syria, Lebanon and what once was called Palestine--will join in an agape meal at 1 or 2 a.m. at the close of the Easter Vigil service, beginning late Saturday night and ending early Easter Sunday morning.

Sunrise services will be held from the Hollywood Bowl to Mount Rubidoux Memorial Park on the west edge of Riverside, where since 1909 the faithful have hiked 25 minutes to the top of the mountain for the non-sectarian service. Some churches, such as the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, stage elaborate Easter spectacles, complete with flying angels. At many churches, like the First African Methodist Episcopal in the West Adams district, choirs make special efforts to celebrate Easter in song.

In the aftermath of last year’s Los Angeles riots, this year’s multilingual, multicultural Easter sunrise services at the Wilshire United Methodist Church in the Mid-Wilshire area promises to be particularly poignant, said the Rev. Janet Petty. The church has four distinct congregations--Korean, Latino, Filipino and one that is predominantly black. “Since the uprising there has been a lot of struggle. We’ve had to deal with the issues . . . the strife between blacks and Koreans. It’s working very well.”

During the service, each language--Korean, Spanish, English and Tagalog--will be used for different portions of the worship. The sermon will be delivered in the Filipino Tagalog language, with written translations provided.

The celebrations belie the somber mood immediately preceding Easter. Preparations for many Christians began last month on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the 40-day Lenten season of reflection, fasting, meditation, prayer and repentance.

Next comes Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, when Christian faithful re-enact Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem during which people shouted hosanna, a transliteration of a Hebrew word which means “save, now/please!” In Jesus’ path the excited crowd laid down palms, a gesture befitting a man that they hoped was the promised messiah who would throw off the yoke of the Roman oppressors.

In many churches, palm branches and fronds are blessed. Parishioners meet outside the church on Palm Sunday morning and proceed indoors carrying their palms, all the while singing hymns.

But the triumph is short-lived. The following Thursday, known as Maundy Thursday, many churches commemorate the washing of the disciples’ feet by Jesus as his lesson to them in humility.

Good Friday (or Great Friday in the Orthodox Church) is the most solemn observance of Holy Week, marking Jesus’ crucifixion and death on the cross.

It is called “good” Friday because it is the day that Christians believe God forever closed the chasm of sin separating humans from divine intent--a momentous act codified in a Bible verse memorized by children: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16).

In liturgical churches that are usually resplendent with festive banners and colorful altar coverings, the contrast of Good Friday could not be more stark.

Altars in Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopal and Orthodox churches are stripped bare Thursday night at the conclusion of the Maundy Thursday service or mass. Crosses are covered with black shrouds. The sanctuary candle that burns throughout the year to signify the presence of the sacraments is snuffed out, not to be rekindled until Easter. In churches that have them, tabernacles are emptied of the sacraments of bread and wine, their doors left open.

The austere scene can be jarring. Some Christians weep as the enormity and meaning of the crucifixion is made clear by the symbolism.

For the predominantly African-American congregation of Central Baptist Church in Inglewood, the suffering of Jesus on the cross is especially meaningful.

“In terms of the suffering that was endured, African-Americans have a particular affinity for addressing that issue,” said the Rev. Romie Lilly, associate pastor of Central Baptist Church.

At Young Nak Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, the largest Korean immigrant Presbyterian church in the nation and one of the oldest churches in Los Angeles, Good Friday observances are especially important for first-generation Koreans.

“American churches tend to be more celebrating (of Easter) and much more extroverted. . . . But Korean history has shown us that we’ve gone through a tremendous amount of suffering as a nation,” said the Rev. Daniel Kim.

At the 200-member First German United Methodist Church--the denomination’s only German speaking congregation in the United States--the Rev. Siegfried Eisenmann said his congregation actually places more emphasis on Good Friday than Easter. This, he admits, is a radical departure from the stress placed by virtually all American congregations on the triumph of Jesus over death.

“Like Europeans, we’re being somewhat realistic,” he said. “It helps us to participate in the sufferings of Christ.”

Among the most moving of Easter services is the vigil observed by many liturgical churches on Easter Eve. As the service begins, the churches are still darkened from the observance of Good Friday. Members of the congregation are silent. They hold unlit candles. Soon, each congregant’s candle is lighted from a new paschal candle and the church is ablaze in light. Also relighted is the sanctuary candle that was extinguished for Good Friday.

What follows is the retelling and celebrating of the Gospel (meaning good news) of Jesus’ triumph over death and the reconciliation of the contrite and penitent sinner with a holy God. “This is the night, when you brought our fathers the children of Israel, out of bondage in Egypt, and led them through the Red Sea to dry land,” declares the Book of Common Prayer used in the Episcopal Church.

“This is the night, when all who believe in Christ are delivered from the gloom of sin, and are restored to grace and holiness of life.

“This is the night, when Christ broke the bonds of death and hell, and rose victorious from the grave.”