Millions of Orthodox Christians around the world celebrated Easter, holding vigils and attending midnight Masses to mark the Orthodox calendar's holiest day.
In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin joined other worshippers early on May 5 at the Russian capital's main church, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, to attend services led by the head of Russia's Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill.
At the service, Kirill, a staunch supporter of Putin and the war on Ukraine, prayed for the protection of the "sacred borders" of Russia, expressing hope that God would stop the "internecine strife" between Russia and Ukraine, the TASS state news agency reported.
Ukrainian Orthodox believers, meanwhile, gathered in Kyiv's main cathedral and other churches around the country to mark the holiday. In a video posted to Telegram and his website, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on Ukrainians to unite in prayer.
"And our former neighbor, who was always trying to be our brother, is now forever distant from us," he said, referring to Russia. "He broke all the commandments, demanded our home, came to kill us. The world sees it."
"And so we believe: God has a chevron with the Ukrainian flag on his shoulder. So with an ally such as this, life will definitely be victorious over death," he said.
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Ukraine Marks Third Easter Since Full-Scale Invasion
The Orthodox Church of Ukraine formally broke away from oversight of the Russian church in 2019, after decades of tensions. A smaller collection of Ukrainian Orthodox churches maintained ties to the Moscow church, but then broke those in 2022, following Russia's mass invasion of Ukraine.
The two branches have squabbled over control of major Orthodox properties and sites in the country, including one of global Orthodox's holiest sites, the Monastery of the Caves, in Kyiv.
In an interview with RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service on the eve of Easter, Metropolitan Epifaniy, the head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, said there'd been a marked increase in the demand for chaplains to work alongside Ukrainian military units battling Russian forces.
"Of course, conditions are difficult for Ukrainians now, but we are doing everything to support Ukrainians," he said.
Millions of believers from Ukraine's Greek Catholic Church -- another smaller denomination in the country -- were also marking the Easter holiday on May 5.
Orthodox Christians follow the Julian rather than the Gregorian calendar and celebrate Easter this weekend, while most Western churches, including Ukrainian Roman Catholics, observed the holiday on March 31.
Under Kirill, Russia has been clamping down on internal dissent, with one priest facing expulsion for refusing to pray to God to guide Russia to victory over Ukraine and another suspended for presiding over memorial services at the grave of Aleksei Navalny, the opposition leader who died in an Arctic prison in February.
In Georgia, which has been convulsed by days of street protests over controversial legislation, observant Georgians held their own candlelight vigils, and attended Mass in the capital, Tbilisi, and elsewhere. Thousands gathered outside of parliament on Tbilisi’s Rustaveli Avenue, which has been the focus of protests and clashes with riot police, to pray and sing liturgy late on May 4.
Unlike at mass rallies earlier in the week, which met with a heavy police response, the atmosphere was peaceful. Unarmed police officers stationed sparsely at the vigil's sidelines were given holiday foods along with the protesters.
Many Georgians were closely watching the official ceremony held by the Georgian Orthodox Church, which government officials usually attend, to hear what the church's national leader would say, and if he would make reference to the anti-government protests.