It's been a challenge for churches all over the world: how do you come together as a congregation while staying apart due to COVID-19? Greek Orthodox Christians faced that dilemma on Sunday as they celebrated Easter. That's when a congregation in Bethesda decided to plan a post-holiday surprise for their priest.
Father Dimitrios Antokas spent much of Holy Week by himself, leading services inside St. George Greek Orthodox Church.
"Usually for Holy Week, we're all here every day, for different liturgies and different services. It's an all-week event," said parishioner Frances Solovieff. "But this year, Father has been here all by himself and we've been watching him online via YouTube and he seems so lonely and misses all of us."
The congregation missed him too.
"I'm a school teacher and we had done a drive-by for our students, a social distancing parade, and I thought why don't we do a social distancing parade after Easter and wish our priest 'Christos Anesti', which is Christ is risen," said Solovieff. "It was just a way to show that we care about him, we miss him, and thank him for all that he's done."
Solovieff and a few other parishioners worked with the priest's wife to pull off the special surprise on Monday afternoon.
"They kept it a great secret. They communicated with my wife, and my wife said oh we have to go to the church and do some printing, printing our taxes or something. And I said, I thought you took care of that already and she goes no we have to do it," said Antokas.
When he and his wife left the church a short time later, the entire congregation and even the Easter bunny had filled the parking lot for a socially distant show of love.
"We came out to this and it was magnificent," he said. "I don't even know how many cars. I tried starting to count the cars, but they just kept on coming."
The parade comes just two days after the congregation pulled off another Holy Week surprise for their priest, when he came in for the resurrection midnight service on Saturday night.
"Over 300 families sent in their pictures and pasted the pews with them," he said. "So I wasn't alone anymore."
During Monday's parade, parishioners held signs that said 'We Miss You Father Dimitri'. They gave him cards, honked their horns, and waved from the windows and sunroofs of cars. And of course, one phrase could be heard above all else.
“Christos Anesti!"
The greeting is used on Greek Easter and for the forty days that follow.
"We say it for 40 days after, yes," said Antokas. "For us Orthodox Christians it becomes like hello! This is how we greet one another."
Solovieff felt the surprise couldn't have gone more perfectly.
"It was just wonderful," she said. "My heart is always full every time I come here. And it's the feeling you get coming to this church, and having that feeling may help us through the rest of this ordeal."
So in the end, the church found a way to come together -- even as the coronavirus pandemic forces them to stay apart.
"We couldn't pass the candle to each other, but we passed the candle from the heart," said Antokas. "It shows the love of family. Not only that they wanted to be with me, but I think they also wanted to be with each other today."
