Free spirits An Easter with candles, incense-and no Moscow

Dawn did not break over wartime Kyiv on Orthodox Easter Day

- Charlotte Higgins and Artem Mazhulin

It was more that the darkness gradually paled, leaving the pinnacle of the 18th-century bell tower wreathed in a wan mist. Soon after 5.30 am, the faithful began to trickle into Dormition Cathedral, which stands at the heart of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, or Monastery of the Caves.

Families carried wicker baskets, covered with hand-embroidered cloths and filled with sweet Easter bread, eggs dyed with onion skins, salt and meat. Members of the congregation lit candles; the great golden candelabra in front of the iconostasis was soon bristling with flames.

Easter has been celebrated on this spot since the 11th century, when monks from Mount Athos first hollowed out the rocky hillside to form their cells and shrines, establishing the lavra as the spiritual heart of eastern Orthodoxy.