Nicholas Roerich, also known as Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh
(Russian: Никола́й Константи́нович Рéрих;
October 9 [O.S. September 27] 1874 – December 13, 1947),
was a Russian mystic, painter, philosopher, scientist, writer, traveler, and public figure. A prolific artist, he created thousands of paintings (many of them are exhibited in well-known museums of the world) and about 30 literary works. Roerich was an author and initiator of an international pact for the protection of artistic and academic institutions and historical sites (Roerich's Pact) and a founder of an international movement for the defence of culture. Roerich earned several nominations for the Nobel Prize.
In most Slavic languages, the name for Easter either means "Great Day" or "Great Night". For example, Wielkanoc and Velikonoce mean "Great Night" or "Great Nights" in Polish and Czech, respectively. Великдень (Velykden), Великден (Velikden) and Вялікдзень (Vyalikdzyen') mean "The Great Day" in Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Belarusian, respectively.
In Croatian, however, the day's name reflects a particular theological connection: it is called Uskrs, meaning "Resurrection". In Croatian it is also called Vazam (Vzem or Vuzem in Old Croatian), which is a noun that originated from the Old Church Slavonic verb vzeti (now uzeti in Croatian, meaning "to take"). It also explains the fact that in Serbian Easter is called Vaskrs, a liturgical form inherited from the Serbian recension of Church Slavonic. It is also known that long ago it was called Velja noć (velmi: Old Slavic for "great"; noć: "night") in Croatian. The verb krstiti in Croatian means "to baptize", so the words krštenje (baptizing) and Uskrs are supposed to derive from Christ's name, from which the word krst was later formed, now meaning "cross" (nowadays having a synonym, križ). It is believed that Cyril and Methodius, the Greek "holy brothers" who baptized the Slavic people and translated Christian books from Latin into Old Church Slavonic, invented the word Uskrs from the word krsnuti or "enliven".
Another exception is Russian, in which the name of the feast, Пасха (Paskha), is a borrowing of the Greek form via Old Church Slavonic