Abbott attends Good Friday service

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has attended a church service in Sydney's southwest, joining many thousands of people around the country in marking Good Friday.

Mr Abbott delivered a reading from the book of Galatians during Friday mass at St Charbel's Church at Punchbowl.

"For through the law I die to the law so that I might live to God," he read.

"I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I that live, but it is Christ that lives in me."

Labor MP Tony Burke, whose electorate of Watson includes Punchbowl, also spoke during the service.

Thousands of Australians attended mass across the country.

Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher has used his Easter message to reflect on the coming centenary of the Gallipoli campaign and the religious persecution of Christians around the world.

Sadly, he says, since "the war to end all wars", there have been many more.

"Terrorism and religious persecution are now also major concerns, especially in the Middle East, Africa and Asia," he said in his Easter message.

In his Easter message, the Anglican Primate of Australia and Melbourne, Archbishop Philip Freier, says hope takes people beyond a violent world.

Violence seemed an inescapable part of the human condition, he said, "but Christians have less reason than anyone to despair in the face of the cruelty and callousness we so often encounter, because we are a Resurrection people who dwell in hope".