For Ukrainian Orthodox in US, war news casts pall on Easter

By PETER SMITH
Associated Press

Many Ukrainian Americans are observing Orthodox Easter this Sunday, but they’re finding it difficult to be joyful when their ancestral homeland has been torn by the Russian invasion. The Rev. Richard Jendras of St. Mary’s Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in Allentown, Pennsylvania, said this should be a joyous holiday. But he noted that this year, it coincides with grim news from the war zone of death and destruction. Yet he said it’s important to affirm that “good does triumph” over evil. Eastern Orthodox often celebrate Easter later than Western churches because they use a different method to calculate its date.