Christians worldwide are marking Easter Sunday together this year, as both Catholic and Orthodox churches celebrate the resurrection of Jesus on the same day.
Christians across the globe are celebrating Easter, Christianity’s most significant holiday.
For over 400 years, Catholic and Orthodox churches have used different methods to calculate the date of Easter. But this Sunday marks a rare occasion as both traditions celebrate the resurrection of Jesus on the same day.
In Kyiv, residents attended Easter Mass from Saturday night into Sunday morning. Due to the city’s midnight curfew, worshippers remained inside the church until dawn. Ceremonies across Ukraine came shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a temporary ceasefire lasting until midnight on Sunday.
In Moscow, hundreds gathered at Christ the Saviour Cathedral for Easter Mass led by Patriarch Kirill, which took place overnight from Saturday into Sunday.
On Chios Island, rival churches continued their annual Easter tradition of launching fireworks at each other's buildings in an effort to strike the opponent’s church bell. Worshippers from Panagia Erithiani and Saint Mark use handmade rockets crafted from sulphur and gunpowder, continuing a tradition that evolved from the use of heavy cannons to today’s less-harmful fireworks.
In North Bohemia, a village boy dressed in a hay suit led the traditional "Marching Judas" procession on Easter Saturday. Surviving in only a few eastern Czech villages, the eldest teenage boy becomes the "Straw Judas," symbolizing the disciple who betrayed Jesus. Children follow him door to door, singing and collecting sweets, eggs, and money in a cart pulled by Judas.
In Oruro, artists crafted large sand sculptures portraying biblical scenes and the 14 stations of the Way of the Cross. Nearly 200 artists from Bolivia, Argentina, and Peru turned the dunes into a massive canvas for the festival’s 19th edition, attracting crowds to admire the detailed sand creations.
In Jerusalem, Orthodox Christians gathered at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for the Holy Fire ceremony, a tradition believed to symbolize Jesus’ resurrection. At 2 p.m. on Holy Saturday, a sunbeam is said to ignite a lamp inside the tomb, after which the Greek Orthodox Patriarch emerges with a lit candle. The flame is then shared among worshippers and passed to pilgrims waiting in the nearby streets.
While many observe Easter Sunday with traditional practices like prayer and mass, others embrace more secular customs — from colorful egg hunts and decorating to festive baskets and visits from the Easter Bunny.
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The co-pilot of Israel bound flydubai flight attempted to carry out a “terrorist attack” with an axe during the flight, the United Arab Emirates prosecutor general said on Saturday.
Hammam al-Hammami, the Flydubai co-pilot accused of stabbing the captain of an Israel-bound flight on Wednesday in a suspected terrorist attack, was banned from flying by Oman over concerns about his radical views, U.S. media reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Two Iranian nationals have been charged in Britain with preparing a suspected terrorist attack targeting the Jewish community in northern England, police said on Friday (2 October).
A major bridge across the Dnipro river in Kyiv was hit in a Russian air attack on Saturday, the city's mayor, Vitali Klitschko said, as strikes on the capital's infrastructure continue.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev warned against interference from outside actors in remarks at the 8th Congress of the New Azerbaijan Party in Baku on Friday 2 October.
The sound of air raid sirens and explosions rang out in Ukraine's capital Kyiv on Sunday (4 October) as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz arrived for a visit to show support for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy amid escalating Russian attacks.
An alleged 2024 rape case involving seven former members of Cornell University’s Chi Phi fraternity has been reopened after the alleged victim, known anonymously as Jane Doe in court documents, filed a civil lawsuit accusing the men of drugging and gang-raping her.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is voting in general elections on Sunday (4 October) that could shape the country’s stalled path towards European Union membership, as well as the competing influence of the United States and Russia in the Western Balkans.
Maisa, a 17-year-old in a deprived Paris suburb who aspires to be an English teacher, joined tens of thousands of other students and their supporters this week in protests that spread across France over dilapidated schools, classroom overcrowding and teacher shortages.
Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs’ centrist, pro-Ukraine United List party won Saturday’s parliamentary election by a wide margin, according to partial results, as security concerns linked to Russia’s war in Ukraine dominated the campaign.
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