Easter Sunday

At first it sounded like an April Fool’s Day news story, or at worst, a politically motivated smear campaign against the outspoken Parliament president Zoi Konstantopoulou.

Traditional Greek Orthodox Easter was combined with Cyclades chic on over the weekend on Mykonos, one of Greece's handful of islands where international jet-setters, celebrities and party animals holiday together.
In retaining one very Grecian Easter Sunday custom, lambs on spits were roasted on the famous beach of Psarrou, next to beach chairs and umbrellas

Greece’s political leaders are attending Greek Orthodox Easter events at their home towns with friends and family members.

April 8, a date typically reserved for Spring weather in Greece, suddenly turned cold on Holy Wednesday with snow in mountain region. The Buffy camp at Mount Parnitha, north of Athens, has been covered with layers of snow after it started to snow at 10 a.m. on Wednesday morning.

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) insurgents blew up an 80-year-old church in Syria's northeastern province of Hassaka on Easter Sunday, Syrian state news agency SANA said. 

During his traditional Easter Sunday message to people all over the world, Pope Francis called for peace and tolerance.

He pleaded for peace especially in the Holy Land, Ukraine, Libya, Yemen, Nigeria, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as quoted by the BBC.

Vespers Service

On Holy Wednesday, people head to church for the Service of the Holy Unction. The priest makes a sign of the Cross in oil on people's forehead for health and luck.

Red eggs

American conductor Mark Stringer is for the first time in Romania to perform Giuseppe Verdi's "Messa da Requiem" at the "Vasile Alecsandri" National Theatre of Iasi.

Photo credit: (c) Adrian CUBA / AGERPRES PHOTO

A 22-year-old man alleged to have confessed to killing a 41-year-old homeless woman in Glyfada, southern Athens, as a “sacrifice to Satan” on Easter Sunday was to be transferred to the psychiatric unit of Attica’s high-security Korydallos Prison on Thursday after testifying before a prosecutor and an investigating magistrate.

The 22-year-old man who allegedly confessed to killing a 41-year-old homeless woman in Glyfada, southern Athens, as a “sacrifice to Satan” on April 20 will face a prosecutor on Thursday.

According to a police announcement the suspect had been planning to make another “sacrifice” on June 21. The suspect allegedly told police he had been initiated in Satanism at the age of 14.