Clergy Celebrate Easter Ceremonies Alone in Pandemic

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Wednesday said there would be no relaxation of curfew rules in Serbia over Orthodox Easter this weekend - after the Church asked for the weekend curfew to be lifted on Sunday from 5am to 10am to let believers leave home and attend churches for the liturgy. However, some media reported the number of believers were present in churches in Novi Sad and Belgrade, despite Government ban.

In Republika Srpska, in Bosnia, the Crisis Staff has imposed a ban on outdoor movement over much of the Easter weekend from 3pm on Saturday to 5am on Monday.

In Romania, the government has also not allowed people to leave home over Orthodox Easter to receive the Eucharist outside churches and light candles from the holy fire brought from Jerusalem, as the Church requested.

Instead, volunteers will deliver both the Eucharist and the holy flame to the homes of believers who will receive them "at the threshold of their houses or from their window".

In North Macedonia, the Orthodox Church has kept churches open for the Orthodox Easter to allow communion for believers.

The Church said religious artifacts used in the Easter ceremonies will be disinfected, and it advised people who wish to attend masses to wear masks or scarves to protect themselves. The government said it would not force believers to stay away from churches, but urged them to stay at home anyway.

Orthodox Easter ceremony in Podgorica, Montenegro. Photo:BIRN/Milos VujovicMacedonian orthodox priests hold candles during an Easter service at the main Orthodox church, St Kliment, in Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia. Photo:EPA-EFE/GEORGI LICOVSKIAn elderly woman holds a lighten candle symbolizing the Holy Light at the window of her house in Bucharest, Romania...