The Feast of St. George the Great Martyr who is celebrated at the Cathedral in Doha was officiated on Friday of the Bright Week by transference for pastoral reasons.

The service of Great Vespers with the blessing of bread was held on Thursday, April 18 / May 2, 2019, led by the Most Reverend Archbishop Makarios of Qatar with co-celebrants the ministering Priests of the Cathedral.

Matins and the Divine Liturgy were celebrated on Friday April 19/ May 3, 2019, with the participation of a large crowd of faithful Christians. His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece Mr. George Katrougalos with his associates and the Ambassador of Greece in Doha Mr. Constantinos Orphanides came to the Holy Cathedral during the festive services.

The Divine Liturgy was followed by the procession of the Holy Icon of St. George and then a reception at the Reception Hall.

From the Holy Archdiocese of Qatar

On Thomas Sunday, April 22/ May 5, 2019, the Greek Orthodox Community of Kana in Galilee celebrated according to its order the commemoration of the Lord’s miracle of turning the water into wine that happened in the ancient small town of Kana for the pleasure of the wedding guests, a wedding that the Lord Himself blessed being there with His Mother as guests too.

The Divine Liturgy for this feast was officiated by His Beatitude our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos, with co-celebrants the Most Reverend Metropolitan Kyriakos of Nazareth, the Most Reverend Archbishop Aristarchos of Constantina, the Most Reverend Archbishop Methodios of Tabor, the Most Reverend Metropolitan Joachim of Helenoupolis, Hagiotaphite Hieromonks, the Hegoumen of Tabor Archimandrite Hilarion, Archimandrite Sophronios and Archimandrite Modestos,under the chanting of the Kana Choir and with the participation of many Orthodox faithful of this parish and pilgrims.  

His Beatitude addressed this congregation as follows;

“This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Kana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him” (John 2:11) St. John the Evangelist says.

Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Noble Christians and pilgrims

The uncreated and unwaning Light of the Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour has gathered all of us in this Holy place of Kana of Galilee, where the wedding to which the Mother of Jesus was present, and also “both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage” (John 2:2), in order to thank, glorify and bless the resurrected Christ unto the ages.

Two things happened with the participation of Christ at the wedding of his friend Simon of Kana, who was also called Zelotes (Luke 6:15); firstly, the sacrament of marriage took place and the woman was being set free from the curse of the Mosaic Law as St. Cyril of Alexandria preaches by saying: “the sacred marriage was sanctified and therefore the curse of the woman was lifted; for the children will not be born in sorrow any more, and this is so because the beginning of birth has been blessed by Christ”. Secondly, He turned the water into wine, as St. John the Evangelist witnesses by saying: “When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;)” (John 2:9).

In this wedding Jesus revealed His glory, namely His divinity, for the first time. Moreover, He revealed that the God the Word came down from heaven to earth, in order to receive upon Himself the human nature by the way of the Bridegroom, considering the humanity is called the bride and Christ the Bridegroom, according to St. Cyril of Alexandria.

In other words, the wedding in Kana is the exemplar of the spiritual wedding of Christ the Bridegroom with the Church-Bride, as St. John witnesses in his book of Revelation by saying: “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God” (Rev. 19:7-9). And in more detail, let us be glad and rejoice, and let us attribute all the glory to Him, because the time of the wedding of the lamb has arrived, of the spiritual and eternal Bridegroom Jesus Christ, and His wife, the spiritual Bride, the Church, has made herself beautiful with ornaments. And she has been given a pure crimson garment by God, which symbolizes the royal grace and holiness. Because the garment in crimson colour are the virtues of the saints of the triumphant Church, of the new Jerusalem, the eternal Bride of Christ. And the Angel said to me; Write; blessed are those who have been invited to the dinner of the wedding of the Lamb, who will participate at the eternal joy and beatitude; These words which confirm the beatitude of the faithful through their union with Christ, are true, they are the words of God.

As far as the miracle of the turning of water into wine is concerned, this is not only the revelation of the glory of Jesus, but also the exemplar of the new drink in Christ which we are called to drink as the hymn writer says: “Come let us drink a new drink, not one marvellously brought forth from a barren rock, but the Source of incorruption, which springeth forth from the grave of Christ, in Whom we are established”.

We, my dear brothers and sisters, being named after the name of Christ, which is above all names, (Philip. 2:9), henceforth drink from the “new drink” which gushes out from the Life-giving Tomb of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who is the unceasing spring, the spring of incorruption; a spring which offers us the rebirth of the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

And we ask ourselves, what exactly is the “new drink”? It is the sacred and living blood of Christ, “which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matt. 26:28). It is our participation in the Eucharistic dinner of the Lord’s body and blood, in which we foretaste the eternal life and our resurrection. “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:54) the Lord says. Interpreting these words, St. Cyril of Alexandria says: “marvel at approaching St. John the Evangelist who said: “and the Word became flesh” (John 1:14); not therefore that He became “in flesh”, but that He became “flesh” in order to declare the union. And each of the two remains as it is in nature, one of the two is Christ, and the Word is united with the same flesh in a manner unspeakable and beyond human comprehension”.

Jesus, my dear ones, and His glorious resurrection, are the foundation of the Christian faith as St. Paul preaches by saying: “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:11). And elsewhere he says: “And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain” (1 Cor. 15:14).

Moreover, Apostle Thomas the Twin confirms through his faithful unfaithfulness the resurrection of Christ as St. John the Evangelist says: “Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:27-29).

“A sacred Pascha hath been shown forth to us today; a new and holy Pascha, a mystic Pascha…a Pascha that hath opened unto us the gates of Paradise” the hymn writer of the Church proclaims. And this is because today is the second Sunday since Pascha, and we celebrate the inauguration of Christ’s resurrection.

And this inauguration refers to our liberated human nature in Christ through Christ, from the corruption of the death of sin, a human nature that has been deified in His resurrection and this way it is henceforth able to participate in the unwaning day of the Kingdom of the Lord. “But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Matt. 26:29).

Let us entreat the Mother of our God and Saviour Christ, the Most blessed Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, along with the bridegroom and Apostle Simon of Kana, to intercede for us to our Saviour Jesus Christ, the resurrected from the dead, to deem us worthy to participate at the Dinner of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Many Happy Returns! Christ is Risen!

After the Divine Liturgy there was a procession three times around the Church and the Gospel narrative of the miracle in the wedding of Kana.

After these, the teenagers of the parish danced traditional Palestinian dances at the courtyard of the Church and finally the hospitable Hegoumen Archimandrite Chrysostom offered a meal, during which His Beatitude addressed all present as follows;

“O great and most sacred Pascha, Christ; O wisdom and Word and Power of God! Grant that we partake of Thee fully in the unwaning day of Thy Kingdom” the hymn writer of the Church proclaims.

Today’s feast of the Wedding in Kana of Galilee is also a feast of the historic town of Kana, which is steadfastly joined with the spiritual jurisdiction of the Rum Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Needless to say, that the people of this town, both Christians and Muslims co-exist in harmony and social cohesion.

We personally had had the indeed blessed opportunity to serve in this holy shrine as a Hegoumen and spiritual guide, a fact that linked us both with the holy place and its people.

Our company with you today is not only a pastoral one. It has a special meaning to us. And this is so because among the people present today, I recognize the new generation – without of course ignoring the older one – which [the new generation] has been nurtured with the traditions of Romiosyni and the love of the land of their parents and forefathers.

We have to admit that the Rum Orthodox Patriarchate is the one who on the one hand has protected and preserved the holiness and the universality of this place throughout the ages. On the other hand, it has been the guarantee of the preservation of the religious and traditional identity of the Christians who live here.

And today’s Paschal Feast is a steadfast proof and witness of this fact. Therefore we conclude our speech with the words of the hymn writer of the Church, St. John Damascene, who says: “It is the day of Resurrection, let us be radiant for the festival and let us embrace one another. Let us say O Brethren even to those that hate us; Let us forgive all things on the Resurrection; and thus let us cry: Christ is risen from the dead, by death hath He trampled down death, and on those in the graves hath He bestowed life”. Amen.

From Secretariat-General

On Thomas Sunday, April 22/ May 5, 2019, the Patriarchate celebrated the event of the touching of the Lord by Thomas in the Upper Room on the eight day after the Resurrection, when the Apostles were gathered and when he cried out “My Lord and my God” and the Lord replied “Thou hast believed because Thou hast seen me; blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe”.

This event was celebrated with Parresia at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the evening with welcoming, incense offering and veneration at the Holy Deposition and the Holy Sepulchre, under the chanting of “the Tomb was sealed” and with Great Vespers at the Catholicon, led by the Most Reverend Metropolitan Isychios of Kapitolias. The chanting was delivered by the Choir Leader of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre Mr. Constantinos Spyropoulos and Archimandrite Demetrios, while the service was attended by the remaining Pascha pilgrims and those newly arrived.

In the morning the celebration continued with the Divine Liturgy at the Holy Sepulchre, led by the Most Reverend Metropolitan Isychios of Kapitolias, with co-celebrants Hagiotaphite Hieromonks with first in rank Archimandrite Mattheos and visiting pilgrims, under the chanting of the Choir Leader of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre Mr. Constantinos Spyropoulos and his helpers.

At the end of the Paschal Divine Liturgy at the Holy Sepulchre, the Episcopal Entourage returned to the Patriarchate Headquarters.

From Secretariat-General

 The Holy Services of the Holy Week and of the Luminous Resurrection were held with especial brilliance and according to the Typicon order of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem at the Holy Cathedral in Doha.

The Services were officiated by the Most Reverend Archbishop Makarios of Qatar with the Priests Demetrios and Stylianos. A large crowd of faithful Christians from various towns of the Emirate participated in the Holy Communion in reverence and contrition.

The Services were held in the Greek, Arabic, Slavonic, Serbian, Romanian and English languages for the greater participation of the multi-lingual congregation. The Byzantine choir singers delivered the hymns in a marvelous way and the choirs did the same with the Lamentations of Holy Friday in the Arabic and Greek languages.

On the nights of Holy Friday and Holy Saturday the Consul of Greece and the Ambassador of Moldavia in Qatar attended the Services. A group of Scouts from the congregation escorted the processions of Palm Sunday and of Holy Friday with the relevant music. At the end of the Paschal Divine Liturgy there was the blessing of the Easter eggs and His Eminence distributed the blessed bread and the read eggs to the faithful, wishing them accordingly.

From the Holy Archdiocese of Qatar

On Easter Sunday afternoon, April 15/28, 2019, the Resurrection of the Lord was celebrated with the Service of the “Second Resurrection” or Vespers of love.

This began from the Patriarchate with the reading of the 9^th Hour of Easter, during which His Beatitude the Archbishops and the Priests put on their Liturgical vestments while “Christ is Risen” was being chanted in slow Byzantine music.

After the completion of the reading of the 9^th Hour, the Patriarchal entourage went down to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in official Procession.

Upon their arrival to the Holy Courtyard, there was a prayer, at the presence of the Consul General of Greece in Jerusalem Mr. Christos Sophianopoulos.

Then there was the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Procession passed by the Deposition and the All-holy Tomb inside the Catholicon.

The Vespers of the Resurrection followed, during which the Gospel narrative according to St. John “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week” (John 20:19-25) in many languages, so that the preaching of the resurrection of Christ will be proclaimed in many nations for their salvation and for the glory of God.

At the end of Vespers the Patriarchal Entourage returned to the Patriarchate Headquarters.

From Secretariat-General

On Easter Monday morning of the Bright Week, April 16/29, 2019, the Feast of the Resurrection of the Lord was celebrated as the feast of the Brotherhood at the Monastic Church of Saints Constantine and Helen.

The Feast was celebrated with the Paschal Divine Liturgy, with the participation in prayer of H.H.B. our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos, the prayers of the Hagiotaphite Fathers and Archbishops and Monks, and a very large crowd of pilgrims glorifying the Resurrected Lord.

After the Dismissal of the Divine Liturgy everybody went up to the Patriarchate Reception Hall, escorting His Beatitude in formal procession, under the chanting led by the choir leader of the Central Monastery Archimandrite Eusevios of “Christ is risen” and “It is the Day of the Resurrection”.

Aft the Patriarchate there was the Paschal brotherly osculation and His Beatitude distributed Easter eggs to the numerous pilgrims who received His blessing by kissing His hand.

From Secretariat-General

The Feast of the luminous Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ was celebrated before the dawn of Sunday April 15/28, 2019. For this Feast, the Patriarchal entourage came down to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre after midnight of Saturday April 14/27, 2019, and officiated the Service of Matins with the Canon of Holy Saturday.

On the night of the Resurrection, April 15/28, 2019, the Divine Liturgy was festively celebrated at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, at the Life-giving Tomb of our Lord Jesus Christ, where He was buried and raised from the dead, at the Catholicon, and with a litany three times around the Holy Sepulchre.

Immediately after the litany, the Officiator of the Feast read the Gospel narrative of the Resurrection and then the Choir Leader Mr. Constantinos Spyropoulos and his helpers chanted the Canon “it is the day of resurrection” of St. John Damascene.

After the end of the Matins the Divine Liturgy began inside the Life-giving Tomb, led by His Beatitude and with co-celebrants the Most Reverend Metropolitan Isychios of Kapitolias, the Most Reverend Archbishops; Theophanes of Gerassa, Aristarchos of Constantina, Methodios of Tabor, Theodosios of Sebastia, Philoumenos of Pella and the Most Reverend Metropolitan Joachim of Helenoupolis, many Hagiotaphite Hieromonks and Priests from other Orthodox Churches, Archdeacon Mark and Deacon Eulogios. The Service was attended by a very large crowd of faithful Orthodox Christians.

Before the Holy Communion, the Paschal Message of His Beatitude our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem was read by Geronda Secretary-General Most Reverend Archbishop Aristarchos of Constantina as follows;

By the Mercy of God Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem

and all Palestine

to all the members of the Church, grace and mercy and peace

from the All-holy and Life-giving Tomb

of the Resurrected Christ.

“Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him” (Mark 16:6).

The Myrrh-bearing Women who came on the morning of the first Saturday to anoint Jesus with myrrh, heard this joyful and hopeful words from the luminous angel who was sitting by the tomb.

The angel’s words were confirmed with the sight of the empty tomb, with the “the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself” (John 20:7). Moreover, they were confirmed with the vision of the resurrected Christ. Christ went down to Hades through the cross but Hades did not hold Him. With His descend in Hades, the Lord removed and retrieved from it those who had been bound in hell for centuries, “He stood and cried aloud to those in Hades, enter again Paradise”. “ For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God” (2 Cor. 13:4), He was risen from the dead by His Divine-Human power and appeared to the Myrrh-bearing women and to His disciples many times. He appeared to them at the Upper room on the first and on the eighth day after His Resurrection (John 20:19 & 26), on the way to Emmaus (Luke 24:15), in Jerusalem “the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them” (Luke 24:33), “not as a spirit, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones” (Luke 24:39), but with His illumined and glorified body with the signs of the nails in His hands and feet” (Luke 24:40), asking them “Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them” (Luke 24:41-43).

“To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days” (Acts 1:3), He was then ascended to heaven in glory from the Mount of Olives, He sent to the gathered disciples in the Upper room “another Comforter” from the Father, the Spirit of truth, and through them captivated the whole world, founded and established the Church in it.

The Lord established the Church as the witness of His truth and continuer of His mission. The Church, in the Holy Spirit teaches and preaches Him to be Incarnate, Crucified and Resurrected. It teaches through the word and manifests the teaching through works, while it sanctifies through the Sacraments. It conveys the Divine Grace, transforms the morals, the life and the whole being of the people. It becomes both paradise and heaven, as the troparion says “as we stand in the temple of Thy glory we think we are in heaven”. The Church is an earthly oasis, a spring of living water, of truth and of peace, of righteousness, of brotherhood, of reconciliation, of rapture, and of fulfilled happiness. It deters wars, dispels enmity and unites the nations. The Church preserves and protects the environment and the planet as the creation of God for the habitation of the humankind.

The Church of Jerusalem, as the Mother of Churches, works its pilgrimage, pastoral and salvific mission at the divine dwelling places, at the places that have been sanctified through the grace of the Incarnate, Crucified and Resurrected from the dead, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. From them, and especially from the All-holy and Life-giving Tomb, though the offering of the bloodless sacrifice “on the salvific and bright night of the luminous day of the Resurrection” we pray for the peace-making of the whole world, and especially for the troubled Middle East, for the cessation of the schisms of the Churches and for the unity of the Orthodox Church in the bond of peace, and greet our reverend flock in all parts of the world along with the noble pilgrims, and wish to all, the joy, the power the hope and the light of the Resurrected Christ.

Christ is Risen!

In the Holy City of Jerusalem PASCHA 2019

With Fatherly wishes and Patriarchal blessings

Fervent Supplicant for all before God

THEOPHILOS III

Patriarch of Jerusalem

Afterward there was the Holy Communion, the reading of the speech of St. John Chrysostom, the Dismissal and the return to the Central Monastery with the offering of Easter eggs and cheese for the joy of the Feast.

From Secretariat-General

On Holy Friday evening, April 13/26, 2019, the Epitaph Service was held at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The Service began with the procession of the Hagiotaphite Brotherhood from the Patriarchate, under the lead of His Beatitude the Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos.

When the procession reached the Church, the Service began with the Canon of Holy Saturday Matins, while the Priests were praying to receive the blessing and wear their liturgical festal mourning vestments, along with His Beatitude and the Archbishops.

At the end of the 9^th Ode of the Canon the contrite Epitaph litany began from the Holy Altar of the Catholicon, with His Beatitude, the Archbishops and the Priests dressed in their liturgical vestments. When they reached the Sacred Edicule of the Holy Sepulchre they turned right towards the shrine “Touch me not” of the Franciscans, where a prayer was read, then they moved on to the chapel of the Seven bridges, of the Stocks, which has recently been renovated by the Patriarchate, of Logginus the Centurion, of the “They torn my garments”, of the Finding of the Cross, of the Crown of Thorns and of Adam.

When these stops and the prayers read at them were concluded, the procession went up to the Horrendous Golgotha.

There, His Beatitude read the Gospel narrative of the Crucifixion, which was followed by a prayer and the veneration by His Beatitude, the Archbishops, and the Consul General of Greece in Jerusalem Mr. Christos Sophianopoulos.

Afterward, four Archbishops took upon their shoulders the silk corporal of the adorned with golden thread Epitaph from the Holy Altar of Golgotha, which is above the hole-base of the Sacred Cross of Christ, and coming down the stairs with all the entourage, they placed it on the Deposition slate, and His Beatitude read before it the Gospel narrative of the Deposition.

A litany of the silk corporal three times around the Sacred Edicule followed, and then it was placed by the Archbishops on the slate of the Holy Sepulchre.

Having completed all the above, the three parts of the Lamentations of Holy Friday began by His Beatitude and the Archbishops. The 1^st part started with His Beatitude, then the 2^nd and the 3^rd by  the Archbishops from inside the All-holy Tomb, and then the troparia of the Lamentations were sung by the Archbishops, the Priests and the Byzantine Choirs, before the Sacred Edicule and from the platforms opposite it.

At the end of the 3^rd part the Sermon of the day was read by Geronda Secretary-General Most Reverend Archbishop Aristarchos of Constantina, as per below;

“For the preaching of the cross

 is to them that perish foolishness;

 but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18)

Your Beatitude Father and Master,

Reverend chorea of Hierarchs,

Your Excellency Consul General of Greece,

Noble Priesthood,

Noble pilgrims,

Today, as the day of Holy and Great Friday is setting and the day of the Holy and Great Saturday is about to dawn, the Church commemorates the Cross of Jesus of Nazareth, Christ the Son of God, and at the same time it commemorates  His burial. On the Cross, Jesus “having finished the mission that the Father appointed Him to do” (John 17:4), by saying “it is accomplished” (John 19:30), He gave up the ghost as human, on Friday evening, and just before the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath, He was buried. The task of His burial was undertaken by His secret disciple, Joseph of Arimathea. Having received the permission by Pilate, he removed Jesus’ body from the Cross and buried it at the empty tomb, which was carved in a stone by him, near the crucifixion place, where we are blessed to officiate this contrite Epitaph Service.

And while the Church commemorates a sad event, an event of death and especially a painful and humiliating death on the cross, with which the nature also was co-suffering and “was altered in pain”, and an event of a burial of “a divine in human body”, the Church does not lament, it does not mourn, on the contrary, it celebrates in contrition and modesty. It celebrates in joyful mourning. It celebrates its victory against death, through the death and burial of its Founder. It celebrates the mystery that is made familiar and understood through faith, that Jesus of Nazareth is the Incarnate Son of God. He is the One, Who took upon Himself the human nature, the whole of humanity. He is the One, in Whom according to St. Paul “dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9) and in His Divine-human hypostasis, He descended to Hades through the Cross, then received again His glory and brought man in it along with Him. He appeared to those in Hades calling unto them, “enter again into Paradise”. Those who were bound in Hades in punishment did He make again citizens of Paradise. For the remission of the human sins, Christ willingly offered Himself a living sacrifice, immaculate before God, a sacrifice of blood (Hebrews 9:14). Through His divine blood that was shed on the Cross, he redeemed us from the curse, from the bondage of the letter of the Law. Being lifted up willingly on the Cross, He established with the blood of His pierced side His homonymous state, the Christian Church. This he adorned with His own blood (Acts 20:28). And in His salvific Providence, the once and for all sacrifice of His blood for the life and salvation of the world is being continued, as it is being offered now, a daily bloodless sacrifice in the Church and in the Holy Eucharist. In it, as it will be said in the Cherubim hymn of the evening Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great today, “the king of kings and the Lord of lords brings himself forth to be sacrificed and offered as food to the faithful”.

In the blood of His Cross, Christ united the two opposing worlds, the Judaic and the Greek, in one. He called the Jews who “were looking for a sign” and considered the cross to be “a scandal” and the Greeks “who sought wisdom” and considered the cross to be “foolishness” (1 Cor. 1:18-24), not to be “dismissed” but to join the ones “called unto salvation” considering the cross “the power of God that leads to salvation” and believing that “he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross” (Ephes. 2:14-16).

Our Greek Nation is joined by its own free will in this one body, the body of Christ, the Church, “Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all” (Col. 3:11). Our nation has kept the sciences it discovered and all the nations have assimilated them thereafter, on every aspect of life, but it abandoned its Metaphysic beliefs on the Twelve gods and “took upon itself the name of God” of Jesus of Nazareth Who was crucified.  It accepted the preaching of the Apostle of Nations and in the Greek Democratic cities that used to be without peace and full of enmities, it created oases of cultivation of noble peaceful morals, of sanctification and of salvation. It created Churches, which are all over the Greek territory, in Cyprus, in Philippi, in Thessalonica, in Corinth, in Ephesus, in Crete. It throve in the architecture of marvellous Churches, in iconography, in hymn writing, in the Theology of the Ecumenical Synods. It lifted up Christ’s Cross as a banner of power and joy on the frequent fights against barbaric nations and in its victories, but also as a shield of patience through harsh times and calamities it underwent by its conquerors.

Moreover, in the places of the incarnate presence of our Crucified Redeemer, Christ our God, the Roman Orthodox nation has been magnified. Firstly at this Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the first official Church of Christianity, of the Emperor who is known with the phrase “with this [the Cross] you win], whose “beauty can be compared with the decorum of the heavenly firmament” and then to the Church of Nea and to the Churches of the Monasteries of the citizens of the desert, the Saints; Euthymius, Savvas, and Theodosios, and of  Sophronius Patriarch of Jerusalem, the Fathers who defended the doctrine of the one hypostasis and the two natures of Christ.

The witness of these Holy Fathers has been unceasingly exhibited by the Church of Jerusalem the Mother of Churches, which fights along with its Hagiotaphite Brotherhood and in this Sacred Edicule which is “a possession and offering to Christ of the Orthodox Romans in 1810” as its architect Kalfa Komnenos from Mytilene inscribed on it. Having been renovated two years ago, this Edicule protects and decorates the joy-and-life-giving Tomb, in which the Lord who was crucified in the flesh, was buried, still in the flesh, by the grace and power of Which, the Head of the Church of Jerusalem and Officiator of this Epitaph Service, His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos, and the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre with Him, wish to all of you, the noble pilgrims, “Happy Resurrection”.

The Service continued with the Eulogitaria, the Praises, and the Great Doxology before the Holy Sepulchre and the finishing of the Service was done inside the Catholicon, with the placement of the silk corporal on the Holy Altar. Then there were the readings of the prophesy, the Apolytikion and the Gospel narrative, the morning prayer and the Dismissal. At the end of all these, the Patriarchal Entourage returned to the Central Monastery, while the bells were tolling in a mourning tone.

From Secretariat-General

On Holy Friday afternoon, April 13/26, 2019, the Vespers of Holy Friday, or as it is also called, the Deposition Service, took place at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

After the veneration at the Horrendous Golgotha, Vespers was held at the Catholicon, led by H.H.B. our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos, with the participation in prayer of the Archbishops in the Holy Altar, and the co-celebration of the Hagiotaphite Hieromonks and Priests from other Churches, at the chanting of the Choir Leader of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre Mr. Constantinos Spyropoulos and his helpers. The service was attended by a large crowd of pious pilgrims in contrition under the chanting of the doxasticon of the Vespers.

From Secretariat-General

On Holy Friday morning, April 13/26, 2019, which the is the primary day of the salvific Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ for our sake, the Royal Hours of the day were read at Praetorion, the place that served as the Lord’s prison and condemnation.

Immediately after the reading of the Royal Hours, the Procession of the faithful through Via Dolorosa towards Golgotha began, led by the Most Reverend Archbishop Demetrios of Lydda, who carried the Cross on his shoulders, followed by thousands of faithful who sang “Thou hast redeemed us from the curse of the law with thine precious blood” and “Thy Cross we venerated of Master”.

During the contrite procession there was a stopover at the chapel of Simon of Cyrene, who carried the Lord’s Cross at the soldiers’ command. The final stop of the procession was at the courtyard of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the ascent to the Horrendous Golgotha followed, where the Royal Hours were read again. This happened after the Dragouman Reverend Archimandrite Mattheos and the Master of Ceremonies Archimandrite Bartholomew with other Hagiotaphite Fathers came down to the Church earlier in the morning for the opening of the main Gate of the Church by the Orthodox faithful, according to the Status Quo.

From Secretariat-General