Holidays

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]

Political leaders have attended Good Friday ceremonies and the Epitaphios processions.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, accompanied by his family, attended the ceremonies on Tinos.

Main opposition SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras participated in the ceremonies in a village on Corfu, where he is spending Easter with his family.

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.

The Interior Ministry has sent a circular to all governor's offices on traffic measures to be implemented during the Eid al-Fitr holiday, nearly 100,000 police officers will be on duty during the 10-day period.

The Orthodox world is in the days of Holy Week, during which Christians relive the last days of the earthly life of Jesus Christ. The liturgical program of today's Maundy Thursday is saturated with a number of events related to the redemptive work of the Savior for humanity.

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.

Slovenia has a rich heritage of Easter customs, which vary from one part of the country to another, just like the dishes served on the occasion. Imbued with symbolism, the dishes are the centrepiece of family gatherings.

Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the joint presidential candidate, has vowed to increase a bi-annual premium paid for the pensioners before two religious holidays up to the level of minimum wage which is currently 8,500 Turkish Liras.