MOSCOW (AP) – Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II wished health and happiness to millions of Orthodox Christians as believers on Sunday marked Easter, the holiest day in the Orthodox calendar.

The Russian Orthodox Church, all but banned under the Soviet Union, has experienced a major resurgence since 1991, with an estimated two-thirds of Russia’s 144 million people believed to be observant.

“Let the joy of the Easter holiday touch every heart. Let this joy give you strength and courage to withstand all hardships and troubles,” the patriarch said in his address, parts of which were broadcast on Russian television.

Orthodox churches use a different calendar than the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches, which celebrated Easter on March 27.

At the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, a massive church near the Kremlin that was destroyed by Stalin and rebuilt with a golden dome, thousands of believers gathered for midnight mass, including President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov.

Earlier in the evening, organizers put on a first-ever laser show that painted the church’s white exterior with images of icons and famous church frescoes.

In his Easter greetings, Putin said the country was undergoing a spiritual revival.

“On this festive spring day, I’d like to point to the growing positive influence of the Russian Orthodox Church and other traditional Christian confessions on molding the spiritual and moral climate in Russian society,” the president said.

In Ukraine, where the country’s sizable Roman Catholic population marked Easter nearly a month ago, President Viktor Yushchenko sent Easter greetings to Orthodox believers, telling them Ukraine received divine help during last year’s pro-democratic “Orange Revolution” that brought him to the presidency.

“We see our future tied with the future of other European nations … I wish that this Easter marks the beginning of a new and better life for everyone,” Yushchenko said.

Almost 90 percent of Ukrainians are members of the Orthodox church.

Across Romania, a hostage crisis in Iraq involving three Romanian journalists and their translator overshadowed the holy day celebrations as tens of thousands of Orthodox Christians lit candles to mark Easter.

From the Black Sea beaches in eastern Romania to the central city of Craiova and the flooded plains of western Romania, Orthodox priests and the faithful prayed for the release of the journalists and the interpreter kidnapped March 28.

In Turkey, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I spoke out against terrorism and killing in the name of religion as Orthodox faithful gathered early Sunday at the seat of the Greek Orthodox Church in Istanbul to celebrate Easter.

Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians and a longtime advocate of harmony between different religions, led several thousand worshippers at a crowded midnight liturgy. Many were pilgrims from neighboring Greece.

Bells rang outside the gold-adorned Cathedral of St. George in Istanbul as Bartholomew proclaimed that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead.