It is difficult to go to churches on foot because there are no churches in every quarter, yet allowing people to go on foot to attend Holy Masses enables the faithful who live near churches to attend payers.

Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East

Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East

Eight Years Since the Kidnapping of the Bishops of Aleppo

Beloved Brethren and Spiritual Children

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

On April 22, 2013, same as today, our brothers the Bishops of Aleppo, Metropolitans Paul Yazigi and John Ibrahim, were kidnapped.

HAIFA - On Sunday, April 18, 2021, the traditional procession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Haifa was not entirely traditional, owing to COVID-19 safety concerns. For the second year in a row, the faithful could not march on foot, alongside their bishop and fellow friends and family, to relive the 1919 procession of bringing back the statue of the Virgin Mary, that had been transferred to the parish church in the city of Haifa in 1914, to its sanctuary of Stella Maris on Mount Carmel.

In 2015, at the height of centennial of the Armenian Genocide, the Holy See of Cilicia launched a lawsuit against the Republic of Turkey in efforts to acquire and reclaim the historical Catholicosate of Sis, which was for centuries the Seat of the Catholicosate and continues to be lawfully and legitimately owned by the Holy See of Cilicia.

JORDAN - On Thursday, April 8, 2021, Our Lady of Peace Center for people with disabilities, affiliated to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, in collaboration with the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, organized a virtual conference about Autism Spectrum Disorder, in which participated a selection of scholars, to address the most prominent scientific and therapeutic developments in Autism, especially concerning speech therapy and rehabilitation.

MAGDALA - On Saturday, April 10, 2021, the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene was celebrated on the archaeological site of Magdala, on the shore of the sea of Galilee, during a solemn Mass presided over by His Beatitude Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, in the presence of a few Religious men and women.

On Sunday, April 4th, 2021, on the occasion of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ, His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia celebrated a pontifical Divine Liturgy. Serving the altar alongside the Pontiff was H.E. Archbishop Shahan Sarkissian and H.G. Bishop Magar Ashkarian.

On Wednesday, 25 March/7 April 2021, the Patriarchate celebrated the feast of the Annunciation of our Most Holy Lady Theotokos in the city of Nazareth, at the holy shrine where this event took place.

On Sunday, April 4th, 2021, His Holiness Aram I received His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church, accompanied by two patriarchs of the Lebanese Syriac community and two priests.

"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God." (Colossians 3.1)

We, the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem, send our Easter Greetings of hope to Christians around the world from the Holy City of the Resurrection.

Pope Francis releases his prayer intention for the month of April 2021, and urges everyone to pray for those fighting to protect people’s fundamental human rights in all parts of the world.

The book is a crises-diary; it discusses issues and challenges of theological, political, social and ecological nature. In its preface the author writes.- “The urgent call spelled out in these reflections is two-fold: first, humanity should respond in faith and hope to situations of crisis, uncertainty, and anxiety; and, second, anthropocentrism must be challenged by ethical values.

Dear brothers and sisters,

Christ is risen, alleluia!

Here we are once again gathered to conclude this Week of Prayer and Celebration. We have again reached the Sepulcher to announce emphatically and joyfully that Christ is risen, that death no longer has power over him and each of us.

On Thursday, 12/25 March 2021, the Patriarchate held a Doxology at the Catholicon of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for the 200th Anniversary of the 25 March 1821 Revolution.

The Doxology was offered as a thanksgiving to God for His strengthening of our Nation’s struggle to be liberated from the four hundred years of slavery to the Ottoman Empire.

JERUSALEM - The Holy Week for the year 2021 has officially started in Jerusalem with the celebrations of Palm Sunday. For the first time as Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Pierbattista Pizzaballa presided over the morning Palm Sunday Pontifical Mass at the Holy Sepulchre and the afternoon procession from Bethphage on Mount of Olives to Lions' Gate near St. Anne Church in the Old City.

Dear brothers and sisters

May the Lord grant you peace!

Last year, in this period, we were all shocked by the pandemic breaking into our personal and collective lives. Everything was new, and we felt unprepared for such a situation. In reality, a tiny virus paralyzed ordinary life worldwide and wiped out economic and social programs in almost every country.

This past weekend, the Armenian Apostolic Church commemorated its patron saint, St. Gregory the Illuminators’ Commitment to the Pit. This day coincides with the name day of the Holy See of Cilicia’s St. Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral.

In previous years, St. Gregory the Illuminator’s has been celebrated in grand fashion with many faithfuls staying overnight in the cathedral.

We extend our apostolic benediction, benevolent prayers and greetings to our brethren, His Beatitude Mor Baselius Thomas I, Catholicos of India, and their Eminences the Metropolitans; our spiritual children: Very Reverend Corepiscopoi, Reverend priests, monks, nuns and deacons and the entire blessed Syriac Orthodox people throughout the world.

Pope Francis reflects on World Water Day celebrated each year on 22 March saying it is an occasion for reflection and a call to action as many, across the globe, do not have access to clean water and sanitation.

While the spreading of the coronavirus is about to be contained, challenges remain in countries where the pandemic is downplayed, or even denied. Rumours and conspiracy theories of all kinds around vaccination programmes are deterring people from taking the vaccine.