Photos of the Week

This week’s selection includes the start of Ramadan, Orthodox Easter, the 50th anniversary of Earth Day and more.

(RNS) — Each week Religion News Service presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s selection includes the start of Ramadan, Orthodox Easter, the 50th anniversary of Earth Day and more.

Muslim men attend Friday prayers despite concerns of the new coronavirus outbreak at a mosque during the first day of the holy month of Ramadan, in Lhokseumawe, in the religiously conservative province of Aceh, Indonesia, Friday, April 24, 2020. During Ramadan, which begins Friday, faithful Muslims normally fast during the day and then congregate for night prayers and share communal meals. (AP Photo/Zik Maulana)


Esat Sahin, imam of Istanbul’s iconic Fatih Mosque, holds prayer without the public due to the coronavirus restrictions, in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, April 24, 2020, during the first day of the holy month of Ramadan. Millions of Muslims have started the holiest month on the Islamic calendar under coronavirus lockdown. Turkey has banned communal eating during Ramadan in an effort to stem the spread of COVID-19. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

A man disinfects a chandelier in the Cobanija mosque in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Tuesday, April 21, 2020. Disinfection began in mosques in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo and throughout the country, in order to limit the spread of the COVID-19 infections, ahead of holy month of Ramadan, although prayers will only be attended by Islamic clerics as the rest of the community observes government restrictions on public gatherings and religious ceremonies. (AP Photo/Kemal Softic)

A man fires a vintage canon to signal the breaking of the fast shortly after sunset in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Friday, April 24, 2020, during the first day of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. (AP Photo/Kemal Softic)

Costumed participants in Atlanta’s Earth Day observance gather on the steps of Georgia’s capitol on April 22, 1980, wearing signs proclaiming what they believe to be wrong with the planet: “Ignorance, greed, apathy and self interest.” Similar celebrations of the environment took place around the United States, marking the 10th anniversary of the Earth Day event. RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society

The first Earth Day is celebrated on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan on April 22, 1970, in New York City. Although founded as a secular event, Earth Day has been welcomed by many religious groups over the last 50 years as an important reminder of positive environmental stewardship, or Creation Care. RNS archive photo by John C. Goodwin. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society

Armenian Apostolic Church leader Catholicos Garegin II, second from left, and other Armenian Apostolic Church clerics, observe social distancing guidelines as they attend a memorial service at the monument to the victims of mass killings by Ottoman Turks, to commemorate the 105th anniversary of the massacre in Yerevan, Armenia, Friday, April 24, 2020. Armenia is sharply curtailing this year’s commemoration of the 1915 massacre of 1.5 million Armenians because of concerns about the spread of coronavirus. The public is not allowed at Tsitsernakabersd, the Armenian Genocide memorial complex, on Friday, the commemoration day. Armenians and many historians consider the killings to be genocide, but Turkey, successor of the Ottoman Empire, vehemently denies the claim. (Grigor Yepremyan, PAN Photo via AP)

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, left, the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, distributes fire during the service for the Resurrection of Christ during Orthodox Easter services, held without worshippers to help contain the spread of the coronavirus, at the Patriarchal Church of St. George in Istanbul, Turkey, early Sunday, April 19, 2020. For Orthodox Christians, this is normally a time of reflection, communal mourning and joyful release, of centuries-old ceremonies steeped in symbolism and tradition. But this year, the celebration of Easter – by far the most significant religious holiday for the world’s roughly 300 million Orthodox – has been severely curtailed. (Sahin Erdem/Pool Photo via AP)


A priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Nazariy, wearing a face mask to protect against coronavirus, blesses family members on Easter eve near their house in the village of Nove near Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, April, 18, 2020. All the Ukrainian churches have been closed because of the coronavirus outbreak, and believers wait for the priest near their houses. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

A woman holds a candle at the window while listening to the blessings of a priest from downstairs during the coronavirus pandemic in Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, April 18, 2020. Priests accompanied by volunteers distributed the holy light ahead of the usual time, at midnight, as people observed the interdiction to join religious celebrations in the week leading to the Orthodox Easter, imposed across Romania as authorities try to limit the spread of the COVID-19 infections. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

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