Coronavirus situation pushes Good Friday cross-bearing processions online
Traditional Good Friday processions could only be viewed online this year due to the emergency situation and its restrictions.
Usually a cross will be borne symbolizing calvary on the day which is traditionally held to have been Christ's crucifixion (though apparently does not tally with the biblical timeline-ed.), for instance by head of the Estonian Lutheran Church Archbishop Urmas Viilma, through the streets of Tallinn's old town.
This year it all has to be done remotely; Pastor Ove Sander, the social affairs ministry's chief chaplain, told ETV news show "Aktuaalne kaamera" that this was: "Such a weird and peculiar feeling. It (the wooden cross-ed.) is not easy to carry, it's not meant to be carried, because it's even painful and cuts you But at some point you feel like you're not really carrying it - the cross is carrying you as it were."
Pastor Sander added that a pastoral care phoneline was likely to come in the near future, to help people deal with the current situation.
"Psychological help is already viable for and available to us today, but issues related to human existence, suffering, loneliness and death - help and support could be found for these questions as well," Sander said.
"In the midst of the great suffering and death that is in the world today, we can actually live, we can carry that peace, hope, and even spiritual joy in our hearts," he added.
Editor: Andrew Whyte