~ The Eagles ~
After the Great Schism of 1054, the Eastern Orthodox churches took a mystical slant on Christianity that the Western branch, Catholicism, had difficulty getting a handle on. There are a number of mystics in the Catholic pantheon of saints, but they are oddities. Following the Reformation, Protestants had problems with the whole idea of mysticism, but there are figures like Emmanuel Swedenborg who dot the spiritual landscape.
The Orthodox Christians had a different idea of Easter, particularly the Russians. While Easter and the Risen Christ are the core of Christianity, the Russian Orthodox raised it to a whole new level. The bells of the great cathedrals of Moscow rang out on Easter morning until Lenin silenced them and Stalin tore them down.
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was an atheist and a naval officer before he settled down to teach and compose. This piece captures his sense of a Russian Easter.