Eastern Orthodox Christians to Celebrate Easter on Sunday

With the ancient proclamation “Christ is Risen,” 250 million Eastern Orthodox Christians throughout the world and Southern California will observe Easter on Sunday.

The sacred observance with a Divine Liturgy comes a week after churches in the Western tradition celebrated the Resurrection.

The Orthodox date for Easter originated by decree of the Council of Nicaea in 324 A.D. that Easter must fall on the Sunday after the first full moon of the vernal equinox, but always after the Jewish Passover. That schedule maintains the biblical sequence of events of the Crucifixion and Resurrection.

In his first Easter message as primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, Archbishop Demetrios urged believers to “resist the lure of modern attitudes toward the human body.”

“We live in an age which glorifies and pampers the body, one which makes any and every effort to combat the aging process, to preserve the fleeting beauty of our nature, and to deny the painful sting of our mortality,” he said.

He added that entire industries and new fields of scientific inquiry have arisen to disguise, delay and deny “the inevitable fate of our corruptible bodies.” He called such efforts “utterly futile.” In a statement of faith, he declared, “Only in Jesus Christ do we find the answer to the longing for immortality. . . .”

* In Los Angeles, there will be a reading of the canon at 8:15 tonight at St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral, followed by a midnight Resurrection service. The cathedral is at 1324 S. Normandie Ave., Los Angeles. (323) 737-2424.

HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCES

Gov. Gray Davis and former U.N. Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick and other public officials will speak at the state’s largest Holocaust Remembrance Day Ceremony on Sunday beginning at 1:45 p.m. at Pan Pacific Park, at Beverly Boulevard and N. Gardner Street, Los Angeles. In addition to other elected officials, the program will feature the TOVA Concert Singers, Los Angeles Philharmonic cellist Barry Gold, Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple and Cantor Don Gurney of Wilshire Boulevard Temple. The event is sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Holocaust Monument, the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust and Second Generation.

* A Yom Hashoah service commemorating victims of the Holocaust will be held Monday at 5 p.m. at Congregation Beth Shalom, 21430 Redview Drive, Santa Clarita. (661) 254-2411.

Screening of the motion picture “Tak for Alt: Survival of a Human Spirit,” a documentary about Holocaust survivor and civil rights activist Judy Meisel, who now resides in Santa Barbara, will be held Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the University of Judaism, 15600 Mulholland Drive, Bel-Air. $10 donation. (310) 440-1209.

* The third annual Los Angeles Children’s Holocaust Remembrance Day will be held Tuesday at 11 a.m. at the L.A. Holocaust Monument in Pan Pacific Park, at Beverly Boulevard and N. Gardner Street. It is sponsored by the Jewish Federation. Elliott Gould, narrator of a new recording, “Voices of the Shoah: Remembrances of the Holocaust,” will take part in a program that includes readings, poems and music, including the writings of children who died in the Holocaust. (213) 761-8170.

EVENTS

“Imagining the City,” a three-day conference, will be held Friday through May 7. Keynote speakers include architect Frank Gehry, community activist and attorney Connie Rice and journalist Richard Rodriguez. The conference begins at 8 p.m. Friday with Gehry’s address. Next Saturday’s programs begin at 8:30 a.m. Twelve workshops will be held, beginning at 10:30 a.m., featuring Los Angeles Times contributing editor Robert Scheer, poet Suzanne Lummis, and author and pastor Michael Kennedy. The program will end May 7 with a festive Eucharist and theological overview. All events are at All Saints Episcopal Church, 132 N. Euclid Ave., Pasadena. $35 adults, $15 youth. (626) 796-1172.

* The Rev. James A. Forbes Jr., senior minister at the Riverside Church in New York City, who was named as one of the 12 greatest preachers in the English-speaking world in 1995 by Baylor University, will speak at the 11 a.m. Sunday service at First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, 540 S. Commonwealth Ave., Los Angeles. Free.

* An interfaith panel on the death penalty sponsored by the Valley Interfaith Council will be held Sunday and May 7 at 7 p.m. at the Bahai Community Center, 4830 Genesta Ave., Encino. Questions and answers will follow the presentations. Free. (818) 718-6460, Ext. 3001.

* Five sessions exploring Judaism, Protestantism, Catholicism and Islam are being sponsored by the University of Judaism. They are: “The Religion of Judaism: Its Principles and Applications,” led by Rabbi Eli Schochet of Congregation Shomrei Torah, on Thursday; “Introduction to Protestant Christianity,” led by Lutheran Pastor Kapp Johnson of St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church, on May 11; “The Great Religions of America,” led by Muslim American leader Maher Hathout of the Islamic Center of Southern California, on May 18; “Catholics and Jews,” led by Father Michael Manning, on May 25; and an “Interfaith Panel Discussion” with representatives of all the faiths on June 1. All sessions run from 7 to 9 p.m. at the University of Judaism, 15600 Mulholland Drive, Bel-Air. $110 for all five sessions. (310) 476-9777, Ext. 246.

* “Buddhism: the 21st Century,” will be the subject of a lecture and panel discussion next Saturday from 3 to 6 p.m. sponsored by the Los Angeles Buddhist Union/Rosemead Buddhist Monastery, 7833 Emerson Place, Rosemead. Free. (626) 280-1213 or (626) 288-1210. Sri Lankan, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and American Buddhist scholars will participate.

MUSIC

Organist David Craighead will perform Friday at 8 p.m. at All Saints Episcopal Church, 504 N. Camden Drive at Santa Monica Boulevard, Beverly Hills. $10. (310) 275-2910.

* The American Jewish Musical Festival 2000, featuring internationally known cantors and traditional and modern Jewish music, will be held Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Stephen S. Wise Synagogue, 15500 Stephen S. Wise Drive, Los Angeles. $15 adults, $12 seniors and students. (310) 889-2236.

*

Notices may be mailed for consideration to Southern California File, c/o Religion Editor, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053, faxed to Southern California File at (213) 237-2358, or e-mailed to religion@latimes.com. Items should arrive two to three weeks before the event and must include pertinent details about the people and organizations with address, phone number, date, time and cost. Because of the volume of submissions, we cannot guarantee publication.