For all that's changed, at Istanbul church, all is the same

At midnight a single flame is brought forth in the darkened and ancient church of St. George and quickly it is shared, candle by candle, until all is illuminated.

The faithful sing "Christos Anesti" as they've sung it for centuries, never changing, singing of Jesus Christ and resurrection, his triumph over death, and of salvation offered to those who believe in him.

Everything is new. It is the beginning of the new day. Western Christianity celebrated the holiday last week, but it is Easter Sunday for the Orthodox, and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew leads them in song.

Please don't misunderstand. I'm not telling you what to believe or what not believe. The world is of many different faiths, and there are those who chose to put their faith in science, progress and themselves alone.

But what I am telling you is that this is the way it is here now, and the way it was at the beginning in the ancient city of Istanbul, once known as Constantinople. And I tell you that Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew still holds on, bravely, the 270th in an unbroken succession that dates directly back to the apostles.

Only some 2,000 Greeks remain here, and I can only imagine the resurrection hymn being sung by multitudes in Agia Sophia a few miles away, the great domed church of the Orthodox, now a museum, still standing after 1,500 years and large enough so that the great cathedral of Notre Dame could fit comfortably inside of it.
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