Archbishop Vinyamin of Vladivostok and Primorski region conducts an Orthodox midnight Easter service in the Pokrovsky Cathedral in Vladivostok. This year, Orthodox and Catholic churches are celebrating Easter on the same date. Photo: Reuters
Archbishop Vinyamin of Vladivostok and Primorski region conducts an Orthodox midnight Easter service in the Pokrovsky Cathedral in Vladivostok. This year, Orthodox and Catholic churches are celebrating Easter on the same date. Photo: Reuters
Iraqi Christian children show the painted eggs they received during celebrations after an Easter service at Chaldean Catholic church in Amman. Thousands of Iraqi Christians fled to neighbouring Jordan following a spate of bombings that targeted churches in Iraqi cities in the past few years. Photo: Reuters
A Greek Orthodox worshipper lights candles during an Easter service at the Patriarchal Cathedral of St George at the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Istanbul. Photo: Reuters
Christians take part in an annual Easter mass service in central Seoul. About fifteen thousand believers gathered for a dawn service on Sunday. Photo: Reuters
Residents watch a play during Easter at the Sacred Heart Catholic church in Baghdad. Photo: Reuters
Girls attend the Orthodox Easter midnight mass held in Slavonic language by the Lipovans, a Russian minority in Manolea village, 400km northeast Bucharest. The Lipovans settled in Romania some 300 years ago because of the religious persecutions in Russia and preserved their traditions like speaking Slavonic, the old Russian language, crossing themselves with two fingers and married men wear beards. Photo: Reuters
Kenyan Christian pray as they join a morning service at Holy Family Basilica, Nairobi, Kenya, during the Holy Week. On Easter Sunday, Christians celebrate the resurrection of the Lord, Jesus Christ. It is typically the most well-attended service of the year for Christian churches. Christians believe according to Scripture, that Jesus came back to life, or was raised from the dead, three days after his death on the cross. As part of the Easter season, the death of Jesus Christ by crucifixion. Photo: AP
Pope Benedict XVI holds his pastoral staff during the "Urbi et Orbi" (Latin for to the City and to the World) message from the balcony of St Peter's Basilica, at the end of the Easter Mass in St Peter's Square, at the Vatican. Benedict XVI urged an end to fighting in Libya, using his Easter message to call for diplomacy and peace in the Middle East. Photo: AP
during a Easter sunrise service at Kendale Acres Free Will Baptist Church in Sanford, North Carolina. The church is just about the only structure still standing in the neighborhood after tornados ripped through the area last week. Photo: AP
Iraqi Christians attend an Easter mass at Chaldean Catholic church in Amman. Thousands of Iraqi Christians fled to neighbouring Jordan following a spate of bombings that targeted churches in Iraqi cities in the past few years. Photo: Reuters
Iraqi Christians attend an Easter mass at Chaldean Catholic church in Amman. Thousands of Iraqi Christians fled to neighbouring Jordan following a spate of bombings that targeted churches in Iraqi cities in the past few years. Photo: Reuters
A Christian holds a cross as she prays during Easter celebrations at the Sacred Heart Catholic church in Baghdad. A roadside bomb exploded near an entrance of the Sacred Heart Catholic church in Baghdad, wounding two police officers and two civilians, an Interior Ministry source said. Photo: Reuters
Employees may be smiling, but some economists are not happy at the impact of the 11-day shutdown of business because of public holidays this month.
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, President Dmitry Medvedev, his wife Svetlana, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila attend an Easter service in the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, Russia. Orthodox Easter and Catholic Easter coincide this year. Photo: AP
Pakistani Christian women pray during the Easter mass at St Anthony's Church in Lahore, Pakistan. Photo: AP
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, first lady Svetlana, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his wife Lyudmila and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin attend an Orthodox Easter service in the Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow. This year, Orthodox and Catholic churches are celebrating Easter on the same date. Photo: Reuters
A worshiper receives communion from a priest during an Easter Sunday service at the St Mary Cathedral in Lahore. Photo: Reuters
Coptic Orthodox priests and Egyptian Christian worshipers take part in a ceremony at the Coptic Hanging Church in the old Cairo area of Cairo, Egypt on Easter eve. Photo: AP
Kenyan Christian pray as they join a morning service at Holy Family Basilica, Nairobi, Kenya, during the Holy Week. On Easter Sunday, Christians celebrate the resurrection of the Lord, Jesus Christ. It is typically the most well-attended service of the year for Christian churches. Christians believe according to Scripture, that Jesus came back to life, or was raised from the dead, three days after his death on the cross. As part of the Easter season, the death of Jesus Christ by crucifixion. Photo: AP
Russian Orthodox Old Believers hold candles during an Easter service in Moscow. This year, the Orthodox and Catholic churches are celebrating Easter on the same date. Photo: Reuters
Published Apr 24, 2011
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Pope Benedict XVI contrasted war and hunger with the joy of Easter on Sunday and issued a ringing call for diplomacy to prevail over fighting in Libya, for nations to welcome refugees from conflict and for Middle East leaders to respect their citizens. Benedict celebrated Easter Mass in St Peter's Square, packed with pilgrims and tourists and awash in the bright colors of spring flowers as he marked the church's most joyous day of the year. Christians worldwide on Easter Sunday recall Jesus' resurrection, a sign of eternal life, following his crucifixion. This year, Easter fell on the same day in the Orthodox and Roman Catholic church calendars.
Uprisings, repression and civil warfare have triggered an exodus of people to European shores as well as other countries in the region. Europe has been split over whether to accept or deport tens of thousands of migrants, many of them from Libya and elsewhere in northern Africa.
