Holy Week

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 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.

In the calendar of our Orthodox Church, today is Great Tuesday - a day for humility and sermon.

In church services, the last moral instructions of Jesus Christ are remembered.

In the folklore calendar, Great Tuesday is the day of ritual carrying of "silent" water by the maidens, which our ancestors used for communion and healing.

The last week of Jesus Christ's earthly life is called "Great" or "Holy Week", i.e. Week of suffering, prelude to eternal life.

Raised Lazarus on Saturday, solemnly welcomed, entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, Christ willingly walked step by step towards his predetermined inevitability.

The Orthodox world celebrates one of the great Christian holidays - the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem. Days before his death on the Cross, Jesus Christ was solemnly welcomed in the holy city. The crowd greeted him with palm branches. This is how the tradition of distributing consecrated willow branches in temples was established.

Today, the Orthodox Church honors Lazarus of Bethany, whom Jesus Christ resurrected.

The holiday of Lazarus Saturday is more popularly known as Lazarus Day and is celebrated on Saturday of the sixth week of Great Lent - eight days before the Resurrection (this year on April 16). With it, the preparation for Holy Week begins.

It's no secret that we Greeks love Easter ("Pascha"). In the Orthodox Christian Church, it is the most important religious holiday of the year, a time of intense spiritual reflection and solemnity.

Pope Francis will preside over mass in St Peter's Square Sunday as he kicks off events leading to Easter, just a day after leaving hospital following a bout of bronchitis.

The 86-year-old's admittance to hospital on Wednesday with breathing difficulties sparked concerns he may not be well enough to attend a series of rites in what is the most important week in the Christian calendar.