THE CEREMONY OF THE HOLY LIGHT AT THE PATRIARCHATE

On Holy Saturday, 2nd/15th of the month of April 2023, at 13.00 summer time, the ceremony of the Holy Light took place at the Patriarchate.

The Church commemorates in this ceremony the light of the Risen Christ from the dead, the one coming from His face and from His Tomb and was held, as defined by the Status Quo and the Typikon of the Church of Jerusalem.

At 12:00 (winter time) /13:00 (summer time) p.m., while large crowds of believers had gathered at the terrace of Saint Constantine, protesting that the Israeli Police did not allow them to enter the Church of the Resurrection,  H.H.B. our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos went down from the Patriarchate through the steps of Saint James, and through the Holy Deposition, He entered the Holy Altar and the representatives of the Armenian, Coptic and Syriac Churches asked for the blessing to receive the Holy Light.

Right away the litany began three times around the Sacred Edicule. After the third circumambulation, the officiating the ceremony, His Beatitude our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem, entered the interior of the Holy Sepulchre and, after praying, transmitted the Holy Light from the north door first and then from the facade of the Holy Tomb.

The assembled faithful received the Holy Light with joy, and gladness through the bundles of 33 candles and placed it on their bodies, lips, eyes, and foreheads and received it also in their homes glorifying Christ, the Risen from the dead.

Finally, from the hall of the Patriarchate, His Beatitude transmitted the Holy Light to the ecclesiastical Greek Delegation from Greece, a Mission consisting of the Most Reverend Metropolitan Theoklitos of Stagon and Meteora, and the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Katsaniotou.

From Secretariat-General