Good Friday

People arrange flowers on the bier representing the burial of Christ at Kaisariani Monastery in Athens on the morning of Good Friday. Kaisariani's Epitaphios procession is the only one in the Greek capital that takes place during daylight hours and is particularly popular among the Greek Orthodox faithful.

Worshipers carry the Epitaph in the sea, while others light flares, during the Holy Friday celebrations of Orthodox Easter at the Tolo beach, eastern Peloponnese, in Greece, on April 14, 2023. Orthodox Easter is celebrated this year on April 16. [Vangelis Bougiotis/EPA]

Police in central Athens removed animal rights activists from Syntagma Square as the Good Friday candlelit Epitaphios (funerary) procession was taking place.

As the procession entered the square, a small group of activists approached the clerics and held placards stating "There is no excuse for animal abuse" and chanted slogans "against the slaughter of animals".

Today is Good Friday for the Orthodox world.

This day is a memory of the sufferings, unjust judgment, crucifixion and death on the cross of Jesus Christ. These events form the basis of today's special church services.

In the morning, the Holy Shroud is taken out for worship, which symbolizes the position in the Savior's grave.

Holy Wednesday in the Christian tradition is the Wednesday of Holy Week. In Orthodoxy, it is associated with the evangelical Parable of the Two Debtors, in which Jesus Christ points to the forgiveness of sinners as more important than that of the righteous.

For Orthodox Christians, today is Good (Holy) Friday. This is a day that commemorates the suffering, unjust sentence, crucifixion, and death of Jesus Christ. These events are the basis of special church services today.

On Great and Holy Saturday the Orthodox Church commemorates the burial of Christ and His descent into Hades. It is the day between the Crucifixion of our Lord and His glorious Resurrection. The Matins of Holy Saturday is conducted on Friday evening, and while many elements of the service represent mourning at the death and burial of Christ, the service itself is one of watchful expectation.

Catholic believers celebrate Palm Sunday, a day of reminiscent of Jesus' triumphant entry into Jerusalem, where he was greeted by crowds carrying palm branches. "Traditionally, on Palm Sunday, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bucharest organizes a procession on the streets of Bucharest, which this year, for the second time, cannot take place due to the pandemic.

Catholic faithful this weekend celebrate Palm Sunday, a feast that commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, where he was greeted by crowds that strewed palm branches before Him. "The traditional Palm Sunday procession organized by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bucharest on the city streets had to be canceled for the second year in a row because of the pandemic.

For Orthodox Christians, this is normally a time of reflection and communal mourning followed by joyful release, of centuries-old ceremonies steeped in symbolism and tradition.

But this year, Easter - by far the most significant religious holiday for the world's roughly 300 million Orthodox - has essentially been canceled.