THE FEASTS OF THE APODOSIS OF EASTER AND THE APPEARANCE OF THE SIGN OF THE CROSS IN THE SKY
On Wednesday, the 7th/20th of May 2015, the Patriarchate observed the Apodosis [Leave-taking] of Easter, on the completion of forty days from the feast of the Resurrection, and the Appearance of a Cross in the sky during the days of Archbishop Cyril the Catechizer of Jerusalem, circa 351 AD.
The Divine Liturgy was performed at the katholikon of the Church of the Resurrection, led by Archbishop Methodios of Tabor. Co-officiating were Hieromonks and Hierodeacons. The head-cantor of the church of Sts Constantine and Helen, Archimandrite f. Eusebius, sang in the company of cantors from Greece. Local Jerusalemites and pilgrims attended the service.
During the liturgy, Patriarch Theophilos proceeded to venerate at the Holy Sepulcher and the Horrendous Golgotha.
On the conclusion of mass, a procession began from the Golgotha to the Holy Sepulcher that had as participants Primates dressed in pallia.
At the end of the procession, the epistle of St Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem, to Emperor Constantine, the son of Constantine the Great, was read in front of the Aedicula of the Holy Sepulcher. The epistle talks of how the sign of the cross appeared in the sky, extending from the Golgotha to the Mount of Olives. The epistle was read by the leading Archbishop in Greek and by the Archbishop of Sebaste in Arabic.
After the apolysis, the Primates returned to the Patriarchates, where Archbishop Methodios of Tabor addressed His Beatitude with a panegyric on this double feast.
From the Secretariat-General
httpv://youtu.be/4bM8y1H-umM