His Beatitude Patriarch Kyrillos III presides over The first Stasis of the Akathist hymn of the Most Holy Theotokos in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
This news is shared from the website of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
In the evening of Friday, the first week of Great Lent, 22nd February / 7th March 2025, at the Catholicon of the Sacred Church of the Holy Sepulchre and within the framework of the service of the Small Compline, the canon of the Theotokos was chanted, with the First Stasis of the Akathist Hymn to the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary was read by His Beatitude Patriarch Kyrios Kyrios Theophilos III, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and the Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches, who also presided over the entire service. The chanting was conducted by the Chief Cantor and Deacon Eustathios Tsoumanis, with the participation of a devout congregation of monks, nuns, and laity, in the presence of the Consul General of Greece in Jerusalem, Mr Dimitrios Angelosopoulos, and members of the Greek Consulate.
During this service, His Beatitude delivered a sermon to the faithful, in Greek, which follows:
“An angel was sent from heaven, to say to the Theotokos: Hail! And with a voice that transcended the bodily form, beholding Thee, O Lord, incarnate, he was astonished and stood, crying out to her these words: Hail, O heavenly ladder, by which God descended; Hail, O bridge leading those from earth to heaven.”
Beloved in Christ,
Devout Christians,
The Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ calls us today to joyfully enter and pass through the stage of the immaculate Fast, the Holy and Great Lent. The sacred passions and the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ have formed the reason for the establishment of the fasts, especially the fast before Pascha.
The institution of fasting was prescribed by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who fasted for forty days with prayer as a means to combat the devil. “And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.” (Mark 9:29). Likewise, at His departure from this world, Jesus told the disciples of John the Baptist, “But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast.” (Matthew 9:15)…
This news was originally published on the website of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, click here to read more.