Photos of the Week: Orthodox Easter, Sikh pilgrims

By Kit Doyle · April 15, 2026

(RNS) — Each week RNS presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s photo selection includes Orthodox Holy Week and Easter, a ceasefire in the Middle East and Sikh pilgrims.

Christian Orthodox pilgrims hold up candles during the Holy Fire ceremony, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the site where, according to tradition, Jesus was crucified and buried, in the Old City of Jerusalem, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Ethiopian Orthodox Christian worshippers take part in prayers during Good Friday in Addis Ababa, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo)

Coptic Christians attend a resurrection Mass at Archangel Michael Church in Cairo, Egypt, late Saturday, April. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Khaled Elfiqi)

Priests bless believers and their Easter baskets to mark Orthodox Easter, in Pyrohiv, close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

A Sunday school group performs a hymn during a Good Friday service at Re'ese Adbarat Debre Selam Kidist Mariam Church, an Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo church, in Washington, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)

A boy receives holy communion from Armenian church Archbishop Datev Hagopian during the Orthodox Easter service at the Armenian Orthodox Cathedral in Bucharest, Romania, Saturday, April 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

A police officer stands guard on a rooftop to ensure security as Sikh pilgrims celebrate Vaisakhi festival, which also marks the New Year in Sikh tradition, at the shrine of Gurdwara Punja Sahib, the second most sacred place for Sikhs, in Hassan Abdal, Pakistan, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Sikh pilgrims attend a ceremony to celebrate Vaisakhi festival, which also marks the New Year in Sikh tradition, at the shrine of Gurdwara Punja Sahib, the second most sacred place for Sikhs, in Hassan Abdal, Pakistan, Tuesday, April 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

Pope Leo XIV arrives at Maqam Echahid Martyrs' Monument in Algiers, Monday, April 13, 2026, on the first day of an 11-day apostolic journey to Africa. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Leo XIV is welcomed by Rector Mohamed Mamoun Al Qasimi upon his arrival at the Great Mosque in Algiers, Monday, April 13, 2026, on the first day of an 11-day apostolic journey to Africa. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Worshippers enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Thursday, April 9, 2026, following a ceasefire reached between Iran, Israel and the United States. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Jews pray in the women's section of the Western Wall, Thursday, April 9, 2026, after the holy sites in Jerusalem's Old City were reopened thanks to the ceasefire with Iran. (RNS photo/Michele Chabin)

Horseback riders known as huasos accompany priests to give communion to the sick during the Quasimodo Feast, a procession held on the first Sunday after Easter, in Colina, Chile, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Archival Photos

A Christian congregation meets for a worship service in predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria in 1960. (RNS archive photo by W. Harold Fuller. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.)

Religious pacifists picket the Atomic Energy Commission headquarters in Washington, D.C., in 1957, in protest against nuclear weapons tests scheduled in the Pacific for April 1958. The picketing was part of month-long Prayer and Conscience Vigil to persuade U.S. President Eisenhower to call off the proposed tests. (RNS archive photo by Eric Meacher. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society.)