Easter in a orthodox church

Easter will take place following the Orthodox calendar and this year it was much later than for example in Finland. Easter is the most important celebration for Russian Orthodoxes. Maybe because of anti-religious Soviet times there will be no extra holidays added to the easter weekend. Important tradition is to go to the church and join the easter procession. Some of my Russian friends were going to church and I was been invited to come with them. I am not very religious with my views but of course you can't refuse to experience something so interesting and special. We went to this church located in a beautiful area of Tsaritsyno ("The Tsarina Village", unfinished building project for a summer palace started by Catherine the great), south of Moscow. When entering the church you should dress up in suitable way. With women that means no make up, dress covering your knees and scarf covering your hair. So I looked little bit like matrjoska ;-) The ceremony can go on for hours and there are no seats to sit, except for old & sick people. However, this time it was possible just to visit, lid a candle and leave when you feel like it. The church was full of people and there was so many candles that I felt it's christmas. Around midnight more people were gathering around the church with candles in their hands – it was a time for the procession. Everybody were following priests when they walked around the church. It looked very beautiful with so many candles! My muslim friend told me earlier that after that you are supposed to greet people around you by saying "Khristos voskres" (Christ is risen) and then other person replies "Voistine voskres" (he is truly risen) and people are kissing one another three times. You can spend the whole easter night in a church if you want but we felt so cold after being long time outside that we decided to go home. On my way home I experienced some Russian friendliness again because a friend of mine wanted to drive me home. It was a long way, more than one hour one way! Thank you so much :-) Wonderful and interesting night! When I was entering my home building I could hear singing from the Sokol church too. It sounded very beautiful!