Wollongong - The Serbian Orthodox Church and Orthodox Christians around the world today, 12 April 2026, celebrated Easter, the greatest Christian feast symbolising the victory of life over death. At the Church of St John the Baptist in Wollongong, Easter was marked with a midnight liturgy, while services were also held in all Serbian Orthodox churches across Australia and New Zealand. In Orthodox churches, the Royal Doors of the altar are opened on Easter, symbolically signifying that through His resurrection, Christ conquered darkness and death, opening the gates of paradise and the path to salvation for all humankind.
In his Easter message, His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Porfirije emphasised that we are all one people and one body in Christ, united by the same faith and the same suffering, but also by the same hope and the same glorification. “From such faith and such unity, dear spiritual children, let us enter into the joy of the Resurrection. We greet you all with the all-victorious and joyous greeting: ‘Christ is Risen!’,” Patriarch Porfirije said.
Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter over three days, and in the Serbian Orthodox Church calendar, Easter Monday and Easter Tuesday are marked as significant holy days. Easter is a movable feast determined according to the church calendar and always falls on a Sunday, between 4 April and 8 May. Next year, Easter will fall on 2 May.
Christ is Risen – Truly He is Risen!