On Holy Thursday evening, 8/21 April 2022, the Service of the Passions took place at the Catholicon of the Church of the Resurrection, which includes the Matins of Holy and Great Friday.

In it, the Holy Church commemorates the Horrendous Passions of the Lord, the beatings, the spitting, the nails, the spear and especially the Cross and the death, along with the repentance and confession of the grateful thief.

On Sunday, 4/17 April 2022, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem celebrated the Palm Sunday, namely the triumphant entrance of the Lord in Jerusalem after Lazarus’ resurrection. The Lord was sitting on a young ass and being welcomed by the children of the Jews who held palm tree branches and cried out loud, “Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord”.

This Despotic feast was celebrated at the Catholicon of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as a “Great Parresia” after the reading of the 9th Hour at the Church of Saint Constantine…

On April 17, 2022, 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 on the occasion of Palms Sunday, at St. Georges Patriarchal Cathedral in Bab Touma, Damascus.

During the Holy Qurobo, His Holiness was assisted by their Eminences Archbishops: Mor Cyril Babi, Patriarchal Vicar for the Patriarchal Archdiocese of Damascus, and Mor Joseph Bali, Patriarchal Secretary and Media Office Director.

On the Monday in the Octave of Easter, His Holiness Pope Francis encourages us to take to heart the Risen Lord's reassuring words, "Do not be afraid", and to share the joy of Easter as witnesses to the truth sets us free.

By Thaddeus Jones

His Holiness Pope Francis spoke to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square on a brilliant Spring morning the day after Easter ahead of the recitation of the Regina Coeli.

Dearest brothers and sisters,

Christ is risen! Alleluia!

Every day of Holy Week, we have gathered here around the empty Tomb of Christ. Today we are here again to celebrate at last His triumph over death, and to proclaim once more to the entire world that death and its bindings no longer have any power.

Now we wish to ask ourselves what we have understood and retained from the many significant gestures that have accompanied us during these past days.

In his Easter "To the Church and to the World" message, His Holiness Pope Francis announces that Jesus, the Crucified One, is risen, and he remembers victims of war, all those suffering around the world, and appeals ardently that the peace of Christ may enter our lives, our homes, and our countries.

By Thaddeus Jones

His Holiness Pope Francis presided over the Easter celebrations in sun and flower-filled St. Peter's Square, crowded with pilgrims in a way not seen since before the pandemic.

JERUSALEM - Commemorating what gives meaning to the Christian faith, that is, that life will always triumph over death, Easter Sunday 2022 served as a conclusion to a Holy Week that saw the return of pilgrims: it reminded us, after two years of COVID-19, what a celebration in the land of Christ is really like.

Echoing the Jewish festival of Pesach, which celebrates the Jewish people's liberation from slavery in Egypt, and which this year began on April 15th (and ends seven days later), Easter is the most important feast of the Christian religion.

His Holiness Pope Francis celebrates Mass with 100,000 faithful, united in the joy of Easter and in the message of peace brought by the risen Jesus.

By Vatican News staff reporter

On Sunday, April 17, 2022, the celebration of Easter Mass in a crowded, sunlit St Peter's Square began with the rite of "Resurrexit" on the parvis of the square decorated with 40,000 flowers brought from Holland.

JERUSALEM - During Holy Week, if the best-known celebrations take place mainly at the Holy Sepulchre, there are many others organized by the city's many Christian communities. Characterized by their diversity, they take place in places that are sometimes unknown but always rich, and allow both foreign pilgrims and locals to experience a unique and exceptional Holy Week, specific to Jerusalem.

Everything can begin at Saint Peter in Gallicantu. On the evening of Holy Thursday, a beautiful mass is celebrated in the church, which is built over the dungeon where Christ is said to have spent the night while waiting to appear before Caiaphas.

His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, delivered his weekly Wednesday sermon, on April 16, 2022, from the Church of the Transfiguration, from the Logos Center in the Monastery of St. Anba Bishoy in Wadi El-Natrun, Egypt.

The sermon was broadcast across several Christian satellite channels and by Internet on the Church’s Media Center Internet channel, COC, on the World Wide Web.

Resurrection of Christ means a bright future for humanity

if it proceeds according to His teaching

Easter celebration this year reminds us, more than any other time, of God’s love for mankind, His closeness and His vast mercy to all, through the resurrection of Christ, which is an affirmation for brighter future and salvation of humanity, as long as it proceeds according to His teaching. His resurrection comes “to shine from heaven on all those who live in the dark shadow of death, to guide our steps into the path of peace” (luke 1/79).

JERUSALEM - On Friday, April 15th, 2022, His Beatitude Mgr Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, presided over the commemoration of the Passion of Our Lord at the Calvary of the Holy Sepulchre, which stands where stood the cross almost 2,000 years ago.

At the Passion Office this morning, in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, the Church commemorated the arrest, trial, condemnation, torture and crucifixion of Jesus, until his burial in a tomb, dug in the rock that would have stood under the Aedicule. A highlight of the Paschal Triduum.

You can find the appeal for prayer issued by His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, to join the Patriarchate in prayer Psalm 23 every Friday, beseeching the Lord for His gift of peace.

The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem congratulates its congregations and all the people of the Holy Land on both sides of the Jordan River for the occasion of Easter and Saturday of the Holy Light, and at the same time we affirm our strong and renewed commitment to our natural right to celebrate our holidays along with our communities, families and to participate together in prayers at our churches in the Old City of Jerusalem, including the basic right of all our communities to access the Church of Holy Sepulchre and its vicinity during Easter festivities including Holy Light Saturday.

On April 10, 2022, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, answered the invitation of His Grace Archbishop Zoltan Balog, President of the Synod of the Hungarian Reformed Church, to attend the special service of Palms Sunday in Budapest.

His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, delivered his weekly sermon on Wednesday April 6, 2022, from the Church of St. Virgin Mary and St. Anba Bishoy at the St. Mark Cathedral in Abbassia, Egypt, several Church fathers attending. The sermon was preceded by the Prayers for the Feast of the Glorious Annunciation.

The sermon was broadcast across several Christian satellite channels and by Internet on the Church’s Media Center Internet channel, COC, on the World Wide Web.

On Tuesday April 5, 2022, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, visited the projects of the Patriarchate in Damascus.

His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II was accompanied by their Eminences the Archbishops who are participating in the spiritual retreat.

The program of the Holy Week celebrations in Jerusalem, issued by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

The Vatican releases the meditations for the Good Friday Way of the Cross at Rome’s Colosseum, with 15 families offering their perspectives on the pain life can bring and the horrors of war.

By Devin Watkins

Complaints, uncertainties, needs, wounds, but also courage, forgiveness, prayers, and hope.

These themes related to the life of every family across the globe form the basis of the meditations written for the Via Crucis which His Holiness Pope Francis presides over on Good Friday at the Colosseum in Rome.

Dearest Brothers and Sisters,

After a long journey we have finally entered Jerusalem, and here today our Church, the Church of Jerusalem, is gathered inside the Holy City. We come from many parts of the Holy Land: from Palestine, from Israel, we also have representatives from Jordan and Cyprus. After the pandemic, we also have with us many pilgrims from different parts of the world, and we greet their return with joy: Thank you for remembering us and returning. We have been waiting and praying for your return.