The Royal Hours of Good Friday at the Greek Patriarchate of Jerusalem

From the General Secretariat of the Greek Patriarchate of Jerusalem

On Friday, 5th/18th April 2025, Good Friday, the Royal Hours were read at the Greek Patriarchate of Jerusalem in accordance with the Typikon of the Church and the Status Quo of the Patriarchate.

Thus, early in the morning, the Hours were read in the monastic Church of Saints Constantine and Helen, presided over by His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem and honorary President of the Middel East Council of Churches, with the participation in prayer of the Holy Sepulchre Fathers.

Thereafter, the Greek Orthodox faithful, in accordance with their established right, proceeded at 10 a.m. from the Patriarchate, led by the Elder Dragoman Archimandrite Mattheos, and opened the door of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

This was followed by a procession along the Via Dolorosa to the Holy Monastery of the Praetorium, the place where our Lord Jesus Christ was imprisoned, where the reading of the Royal Hours continued and concluded. From the Praetorium, the procession moved towards Golgotha, with His Eminence Archbishop Philoumenos of Pella carrying the Cross, accompanied by many others among the local faithful and pilgrims.

When the procession reached the Holy Courtyard, His Eminence addressed the pilgrims with a sermon about the life-giving Cross, which the God-man Christ endured for the sake of humanity, and on His divinely saving humility.

Subsequently, the Holy Procession ascended to the Horrendous Golgotha, where the Hours were read once again, after which, throughout this most solemn day, many pilgrims continued to approach the Holy Shrine in reverence.

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This news was originally published on the website of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem.