Holy Week

Christians around the world celebrate Good Friday, when, according to belief, Jesus Christ died crucified on the cross. It is a non-working day of strict fasting and contemplation.

"Good Friday is a joyful sorrow. It is not desperation, it is not grief for the late Jesus", said professor Ljubomir Stojanovic from the Faculty of Theology in Belgrade.

The exodus of city dwellers for the Easter long weekend holidays is culminating on Good Friday. Athenians are leaving the city through cars, trains, ports and airports, with the volume of traffic on major exit roads being high. Greek traffic police are on alert for the exodus as emergency measures are in effect to facilitate the travellers leaving Athens.

Christians on Friday marked Good Friday in memory of the day Jesus Christ was crucified on Golgotha, ahead of the religion's greatest holiday - Easter.

Friday was a day of mourning for the believers, who observe a strict fast and traditionally refrain from doing any work in the house or in the fields.

On Holy Friday - the worst day of the Son of God - do not celebrate the mass. In the morning in the temple they exported the holy shroud, which reminds wearing the Christ's body to the grave. In the evening takes place the symbolic burial of Christ.

Maundy Thursday is related to the Last Supper and the Holy Communion. After supper Christ took a loaf of bread, blessed it and handed it to his disciples, saying: 'This is my body'. Then he raised his cup of whine and said: 'This is my blood of the everlasting covenant, which is poured for many.'

The preparations throughout Lent, which started on Ash Wednesday, will culminate in the Easter Triduum, starting with liturgical celebrations of Maundy Thursday.

While Easter, the celebration of Jesus Christ's resurrection, is the centrepiece of Christianity, the practices surrounding it in different denominations as well as countries around the world differ.

In the Orthodox Christian Church, Great Lent and Holy Week are two separate things. Officially, Great Lent ends on the Friday before Palm Sunday, and Holy Week begins the day after that. Each day during Holy Week has a special meaning, and understanding what each day represents can help making attending all those church services a lot more meaningful!

After a five-day break for the Easter and May Day holidays, the Athens Exchange is set to reopen its doors for trading on Wednesday morning, with the benchmark starting the session from 583.65 points, where it closed last Thursday.

The Metropolitan of Kalavryta and Egialias Ambrosios blasted Education Minister Nikos Filis over his decision to replace the current religious studies from the school curriculum with a lesson on comparative world religions. The Metropolitan held no bars on Good Friday during his speech at Church, pleading to Christ that Fili’s arm would rot before he signed the decree.

Every year a day before Orthodox Easter, Orthodox Christians around the world rejoice as the Greek Orthodox Patriarch in Jerusalem emerges from the Holy Sepulchre, where the tomb of Christ is, with 33 candles mysteriously lit in the tomb, bringing the message of the resurrection of the Lord to the world.