In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.

Khristos Anesti … Alithos Anesti

Christ is Risen … Truly He is Risen

I congratulate you all on the glorious Feast of Resurrection in the year 2023. We celebrate the glorious Resurrection after a prolonged fast. The Holy Lent that extended for 55 days. We celebrate the Resurrection as we do annually. As you know, the feast of the Resurrection is a celebration of the foundation of our faith. This feast of the Resurrection is a celebration of Christianity, a celebration of faith in Christ. As such, we celebrate the Resurrection each day in the prayer of the prime hour of the Agpeya. Moreover, we celebrate it each week on Sunday. Because it is the day of Resurrection, the Day of Light. We also celebrate it on the 29th of every Coptic month when we commemorate the Annunciation, Nativity, and Resurrection. We celebrate it every year on the glorious Feast of Resurrection, and our celebration extends for 50 days, which we call the Holy Fifties.

Indeed, the blessings of the Resurrection are innumerable in our life. I would like to discuss with you one of the rich gifts of the Resurrection of the King of glory. This is the gift of a positive vision toward life.

On April 17, 2023, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, celebrated the Holy Qurobo of Monday of the resurrection at St. George Church in Hay El-Seryan in Aleppo.

During the Holy Qurobo, His Holiness was assisted by their Eminences Archbishops: Mor Boutros Kassis, Archbishop of Aleppo and Environs, and Mor Joseph Bali, Patriarchal Assistant.

On April 15, 2023, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, celebrated the Holy Qurobo of the Easter Vigil at St. Aphrem Cathedral in Aleppo.

During the Holy Qurobo, His Holiness was assisted by their Eminences Archbishops: Mor Boutros Kassis, Archbishop of Aleppo and Environs, Mor Joseph Bali, Patriarchal Assistant, and Armenian Orthodox Archbishop of Aleppo Magar Ashkarian.

On April 14, 2023, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, celebrated the services of the worship and burial of the Cross at St. George Church in Hay El-Seryan in Aleppo.

Their Eminences Archbishops: Mor Boutros Kassis, Archbishop of Aleppo and Environs, Mor Joseph Bali, Patriarchal Assistant, and Very Rev. Raban Augeen Al-Khoury Nemat, Patriarchal Secretary were also present.

On Easter Monday, 4th/ 17th April 2023, the feast of Pascha was celebrated with its befitting brilliance at the monastic Church of Saints Constantine and Helen, led by the Hegoumen of the Brotherhood, His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, as the service was officiated by the Typikon keeper of the Church Archimandrite Alexios, with the participation in prayer of High Priests and Priests and the representatives of the Russian Church, Archimandrite Alexander and the Romanian Church, Archimandrite Theophilos. The service was attended by the Consul General of Greece in Jerusalem Mr Evangelos Vlioras and a very large congregation of pilgrims.

After the Divine Liturgy, the Patriarchal Entourage went to the Patriarchate Hall.

Early on Sunday morning at 01.00, 3rd/ 16th April 2023, the Service of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, the feast of Pascha, was celebrated at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

On this feast the Church commemorates that the incarnate Jesus Christ, our Lord, was crucified, died in the flesh and was risen from the dead as God-man, granting to His believers eternal life and the resurrection from the dead.

For this feast the Hagiotaphite Brotherhood went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where bells tolling, the Canon of Holy Saturday was chanted, while the clergy, with their Primate, His Beatitude the Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos were being dressed. This was followed by a litany, three times around the Holy Sepulchre.

Then His Beatitude read the Gospel narrative of the Resurrection according to Saint Mark, followed by Christ is risen and the rest of the service of the Resurrection, with the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom.

At noon of the luminous day of Pascha Sunday, 3rd / 16th April 2023, the service of the Second Resurrection was held at the Patriarchate.

The service started at the Patriarchate Hall, where His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, the High Priests and the Priests read the 9th Hour of Pascha and got dressed in their liturgical vestments.

Then under the chanting of “Christ is risen” in a slow Byzantine rhythm by their Eminences, Archbishop Aristovoulos of Madaba and Metropolitan Joachim of Helenoupolis, the Brotherhood marched in procession to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and stopped at the Court Yard for a supplication.

On Holy Thursday evening, March 31/ April 13, 2023, the Service of the Passion was held at the Catholicon of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

 His Beatitude the Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos, who presided over this service, read the first Gospel narrative, followed by Hagiotaphite High Priests and Priests, who read the remaining of the 12 narratives, according to the Order.

This service, which is the Matins of Holy Friday commemorates the Lord’s Passion, the spitting, the beating, the vinegar, the nails, the spear and the death on the Cross, through which He saved us.

In today’s Gospel passage we find the disciples locked in the Upper Room. The evangelist John underlines at least two times (Jn 20:19, 26) that the doors of the place where the disciples are located are locked. In verse 19, he also clarified the reason for this lockdown: fear.

The disciples, therefore, are afraid, and we know that fear causes lockdown, it locks.

But fear is not the only reason. There is another one: the disciples locked themselves in the Upper Room because they are not expecting anyone. After the death of Jesus, everything was over for them and there was nothing more to await. Somehow, they were closed in a sepulcher, just as Jesus had been some days earlier.

Right there, however, Jesus comes, He enters. We said on Palm Sunday that the style of God is to visit, to enter life, to bring new life. Here, the Risen Christ continues to visit, just as He had done countless times before His passion and death. And He visits even when persons no longer expect anything, when they think that nothing new can happen again. Then the Lord comes.

MAGDALA - On April 15th, 2023, the Holy Land celebrated the Feast of Magdala in honor of Saint Mary Magdalene, with a Mass presided over by His Beatitude Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and concelebrated by Mgr Rafiq Nahra, Patriarchal Vicar for Israel, and Mgr Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo, bishop emeritus, in the site of Magdala, in Galilee. The celebration was followed by the blessing of the Magdala center by the Patriarch.

"Before going to Magdala, I didn’t know much of Mary Magdalene. I knew she was an important figure in the life of ministry of Christ and was present during two key moments of his life (the crucifixtion and resurrection), but I did not have so much of a connection with her."

Mariana Be was born in Mexico, grew up in Texas, and also has a Middle-Eastern background. She is a singer, songwriter, composer and producer who, in 2022, went to London to showcase and release her original music. Instead, a couple of months later, she found herself in Magdala, composing songs about the key passages of the Bible illustrated in the seven chapels of the site Duc in Altum – including one about the disciple Mary Magdalene, which she sung during the feast.

In his visit after the devastating earthquake that struck the region, with his accompanying delegation, to the Antiochene parishes in Alexandretta, Antioch, and Mersin. On Sunday, April 16, 2023, His Beatitude John X, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, and MECC President for the Orthodox Family, presided over The Glorious Easter Mass from the ruins of the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in the city of Antioch. You can watch the prayer in the video

In his visit after the devastating earthquake that struck the region, with his accompanying delegation, to the Antiochene parishes in Alexandretta, Antioch, and Mersin. On Saturday, April 15, 2023, Bishop Arsanios Dahdal presides over Easter service in the presence of His Beatitude John X, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, and MECC President for the Orthodox Family, in the Church of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel in Mersin, southern Turkey. You can watch the prayer in the following video

In his visit after the devastating earthquake that struck the region, with his accompanying delegation, to the Antiochene parishes in Alexandretta, Antioch, and Mersin. On Saturday, April 15, 2023, His Beatitude John X, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, and MECC President for the Orthodox Family, celebrated the Saturday of Light Mass in St. George's Church in Sourieh. You can watch the prayer in the following video

April 14, 2023

In the context of his paternal visit to enquire after the parishes in Antioch, Alexandretta and Mersin, His Beatitude John X, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, and MECC President for the Orthodox Family, celebrated the Funeral service for Christ in the Church of St. Thekla in Samadag, with the concelebration of Their Eminences Bishops Constantine Kayal and Arsenios Dahdal, Rev. Archimandrite George Yacoub, and Rev. priests: Damian Yacouboglu, parish priest of Samandag, Tryphon Yomurta, parish priest of Samandag, Dimitri Dogum, parish priest of Antioch, Jean Delolar, parish priest of Antioch, Paul Ordologlou. The heads of the associations in the parishes of Antioch, the delegation accompanying His Beatitude, and the parishioners of Samndag also attended the service.

At first, His Beatitude, surrounded by clergy and the faithful, entered the church while the scouts of Prophet Elias's were playing music, accompanied by hymns performed by Saint Catherine's Choirs for adults and children, and church flag bearers.

The service also included a consoling speech by Patriarch John X:

"What words can one say, my beloved ones, in moments like this? Here I am with you, among you, as we are celebrating the funeral service of Christ in this holy church. We know that the churches of the Virgin Mary and the Prophet Elias were destroyed, as many churches and homes, and many families were displaced and hurt. We also lost many of our children in the terrible earthquake."

In his visit after the devastating earthquake that struck the region, with his accompanying delegation, to the Antiochene parishes in Alexandretta, Antioch, and Mersin. On Friday, April 14, 2023, His Beatitude John X, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, and MECC President for the Orthodox Family, celebrated the Good Friday Prayer Service in the Church of St. Thecla in Sweden. You can watch the prayer in the following video

His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, received a phone call from the Grand Imam, Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayyib, Sheikh of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif. The Grand Imam congratulated His Holiness on the occasion of Resurrection Day, which falls next Sunday.
The Grand Imam, expressed his sincere wishes to His Holiness and to all members of the Coptic Church, and that the holidays be an opportunity for more bonding and brotherhood among the people of the country.

THEOPHILOS III

By the grace of God, Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem

and of all Palestine

to the cοngregation of the Church, grace and mercy and peace

from the Holy and Life-giving Sepulchre of the Risen Christ.

Come ye receive light from the unwaning light and glorify Christ who is risen from the dead            

“It was very early at dawn on that day, the first of the Sabbaths” after the Crucifixion and burial of our Lord Jesus Christ. The women who followed Jesus from Galilee went into the city and “had bought sweet spices, that they might come to anoint the body of the Lord Jesus” (Mark 16, 1). When they arrived at the door of the sepulchre, the bright angel sitting on it said, “Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him” (Mark 16, 6 – 7).

The statements issued by the Israeli police, yesterday and today, in regards to the Holy Light Ceremony, are incorrect. They are a complete misrepresentation of the facts and of our clearly stated position.

Attributing the restrictions, imposed by the Police on the Holy Light Ceremony, to the advice of a so-called church-affiliated safety engineer is categorically misguided and false. This engineer was not commissioned or authorised to produce any report on this matter.

In his visit after the devastating earthquake that struck the region, with his accompanying delegation, to the Antiochene parishes in Alexandretta, Antioch, and Mersin. On Friday, April 14, 2023, His Beatitude John X, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, and MECC President for the Orthodox Family, celebrated the Vespers of the Unnailing of the Lord in the Church of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel in Mersin. You can watch the prayer in the following video.

April 13, 2023

His Beatitude John X, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, and MECC President for the Orthodox Family, and the accompanying delegation arrived at Adana International Airport. He was received successively by our Fathers and brethren from the respective parishes:

- Antioch

Fadi Khorigil, President of the Association in Antioch - Father Dimitri Doğom, Parish Priest of Antioch - Father Jean Dellollar, Parish Priest of Antioch - Jessica Kocamakhoul - Hana Ardolouakhlou - Mikhael Saotağlu

- Mersin

Jan Arab, President of the Association in Mersin

- Father Esper Timur, Parish Priest of Mersin - Jean Yazerlioğlu, Responsible for the Youth - Elias Timur and his wife - Mounir Yazerlioğlu and his wife - Cam Altonish, Former President of the Association in Mersin (former) and his wife - Iskandar Arab and his wife - Issa Shangul and his wife

- Alexandretta