Hundreds of Bulgarian Christians flocked to the Orthodox temples for outdoor services on a surreal Saturday night with the Balkan state one of the few countries where churches remained open over the Easter holidays amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Easter holiday is the most significant date on the calendar for the world’s 300 million Orthodox Christians with thousands of Bulgarians usually packing the churches and their ancestral homes all around the country to celebrate Christ’s resurrection. This year many Bulgarians opted to watch services live on TV instead after the government urged people to celebrate and pray from home. But 58-year-old Radka Petrova, a keen church-goer, said she was not afraid of “that virus because the church is a place of healing”. “I’m here because my faith is strong and I’m not afraid,” Petrova, wearing a protective mask, told Reuters. “I remember the communist times and how mounted policemen used to surround the church to intimidate worshippers.” Bulgarians were unable to practise or study the Christian faith freely during the communist regime, which ended in 1989. “It’s only a virus and we’ll defeat it… Christ is risen!Today we’re celebrating hope in a sea of despair.” The restrictions, imposed due to the coronavirus outbreak, have meant observing an Easter Sunday unlike any Bulgarians have lived through before. But while most worshippers maintained social distancing between each other to stem transmission of the virus, clergymen largely failed to observe it during the services. The decision to keep churches open has sparked an intense debate on social media in Bulgaria. Many fear churches could become centres of contagion and pose risks to the most vulnerable – the elderly – jeopardising the collective effort to contain the disease. Bulgaria, which declared a state of emergency until May 13, has imposed a ban on groups of more than two adults congregating together. It has shut schools, restaurants and other public venues and imposed a ban on non-essential travel. “In the current situation, we must be better and more humble,” Prime Minister Boyko Borissov wrote in Facebook. “Let’s do everything we can to be proud of our decisions and actions in years to come.” The COVID-19 respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus has claimed 41 lives across Bulgaria and infected nearly 900 people – one of the lowest rates in Europe. “On Easter, our thoughts and prayers will be with those who are no longer among us and those who are fighting this vile disease, doctors and medical workers in particular and everyone who is at the forefront of the fight for life,” Bulgarian Patriarch Neophyte said.