On Thursday 7/20 May 2021, the Patriarchate celebrated the feast of the appearance of the sign of the Cross in the heavens.

On this feast, the Church, and especially the Church of Jerusalem commemorates that on 7 May in the year 351, the sign of the Cross appeared in dazzling light, radiating more than the sun rays, and was visible from the Horrendous Golgotha to the Mount of Olives. All the inhabitants of Jerusalem saw it and came out from their houses.

The Pope and the Holy See are "very concerned" about what is happening in the Holy Land where the escalation of violence between Israel and Hamas is continuing.

The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, expressed his worries on Tuesday on the sidelines of an event to present a book dedicated to the former director of the Vatican’s L'Osservatore Romano newspaper, Mario Agnes, at the Italian embassy to the Holy See in Rome.

Pope Francis appealed “in the name of God” for calm in the Holy Land, after seven days of fighting that has left scores of people dead and hundreds more wounded.

The deaths of dozens of children among them are particularly “terrible and unacceptable," the Pope said. “Their death is a sign that people do not want to build the future, but to destroy it.”

We the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches of Jerusalem, are profoundly disheartened and concerned about the recent violent events in East Jerusalem. These concerning developments, whether at the Al Aqsa Mosque or in Sheikh Jarrah, violate the sanctity of the people of Jerusalem and of Jerusalem as the City of Peace.

There are none of the usual feeling of loss or abandonment among the disciples when Jesus ascended in the Heaven, said Pope Francis at Sunday’s Regina Coeli. Instead, “despite their separation from the Lord, they do not appear grief-stricken, but rather, are joyful and ready to go into the world as missionaries.”

Prayer for the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and Urgent Intercession for Justice and Peace

JERUSALEM - The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, in collaboration with the Episcopal Committee for Male Religious and the Union of the Women Religious, invite all the faithful, bishops, priests, men and women religious and laity to pray together on the eve of the Feast of Pentecost and at this time of trouble in Jerusalem and throughout the Holy Land.

Pope Francis holds up the heroic example of Blessed Rosario Livatino, an Italian judge murdered by the mafia, and urged judges to learn from his efforts to promote redemption through justice.

On May 1st, 2021,His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenian Church, Holy See of Cilicia, accompanied by H.E. Archbishop Shahe Panossian, Prelate of the Armenian Prelacy of Lebanon visited Bkerki, on the invitation of His Beatitude Mar Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, Maronite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch. Present at the luncheon was the Vicar General of the Antioch Church Archbishop Paul Sayyah.

On Tuesday morning, April 27th, 2021, His Holiness Aram I, accompanied by Cilician brothers, visited the Birds’ Nest Orphanage, in Byblos, where the Armenian Genocide Orphans’ “Aram Bezikian” museum is located, and presided over the requiem service and wreath laying held in front of Maria Jacobson’s tomb.

Pope Francis highlights the importance of inclusiveness and fraternity in his 2021 Message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, stressing that an ever wider “we” will help renew the human family, build a future of justice and peace, and ensure that no one is left behind.

On Tuesday morning of the Bright Week, 21 April/ 4 May 2021, the Western Churches of Jerusalem paid their visit to the Patriarchate of Jerusalem on the occasion of our Pascha.

The first visit we received was that of the Monastic Brotherhood of the Franciscans, under the leadership of their Abbot, the Custos Reverend Francesco Patton.

To brother bishops, priests, men and women religious and all the faithful of the Diocese

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

May the Lord give you peace!

This year, in response to the heartfelt wish of Pope Francis, the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization is organizing a prayer initiative for the whole Church to invoke an end to the pandemic (ef. Acts 12:5).

On Monday May 3, 2021, Midday, His Beatitude Patriarch John X met with the leaders of the Christian sects/communities in Aleppo at the Salon of the Greek Orthodox Diocese, where the meeting was attended by the right Reverend, his grace Bishop John Gambert (Roman Catholic), Archbishop Massis Zoboyan (Armenian Orthodox), Bishop Boutros Marayati (Armenian Catholics), Bishop Antoine Odo (Chaldean), and Bishop Antoine Shahda (Syriac Catholics)…

The glorious exit from the dead and the Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was celebrated by the Patriarchate on Easter Sunday 12 April/ 2 May 2021.

On this Feast, the Church, being grateful, luminous and rendering glory to God, commemorates that our Incarnate Lord Jesus Christ went down to Hades from the Cross and was risen from the dead.

The Service of the second Resurrection was observed at 12 noon on Easter Day.

This ceremony, just as bright as that of the All-night Vigil Liturgy of the Resurrection, began at the Patriarchate Reception Hall with the reading of the 9th Hour of Easter, as the choir was chanting “Christ is risen” in slow Byzantine music.

His Beatitude Patriarch John X presided over the Bright Monday Vespers in the Cathedral of Elijah the Prophet in Aleppo on the evening of the Great and Holy Easter (Pascha). During prayers, the designated gospel was read in fourteen languages, which are: Arabic, English, French, Greek, Italian, Russian, Persian, Romanian, Japanese, Spanish, Syriac, German, Armenian and Ukrainian.

On April 23, 2021, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II attended a Recital entitled “Light after Darkness” on the occasion of the Great Lent and Easter, at St. George Patriarchal Cathedral in Bab Touma - Damascus.

After more than a century, President Biden on Saturday became the first sitting US president to recognize the devastating tragedy that befell the Armenian community of Anatolia as genocide. In his historic statement, issued on Armenian Martyrs’ Day (April 24), President Biden stated, “Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring…. We honor their story.

On Palm Sunday, 12/25 April 2021, the Patriarchate celebrated the triumphant entry of the Lord in Jerusalem after the Resurrection of Lazarus, when the children of the Jews were crying out loud, “Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord” and had their garments lain on the streets along with palm tree branches to welcome Him.

On the occasion of 24th April which is the Remembrance Day of one and a half million Armenian martyrs, the victims of genocide which was planned and executed by the Ottoman Turkish Empire in 1915, a Eucharistic celebration was held in the court of the Catholicosate, in Antelias, Lebanon, under the auspices of His Holiness Catholicos Aram I.