Jerusalem - Media Office - Episcopal Diocease of Jerusalem April 17, 2025

St. George the Martyr Church — the Anglican Cathedral in Jerusalem — celebrated the Maundy Thursday service and the washing of the feet. His Eminence Bishop Hossam Naoum, the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem and the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, presided over the service.  

Jerusalem - Media Office - Episcopal Diocease of Jerusalem April 17, 2025

St. George the Martyr Church — the Anglican Cathedral in Jerusalem — celebrated the Maundy Thursday service and the washing of the feet. His Eminence Bishop Hossam Naoum, the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem and the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, presided over the service.  

On the evening of Maundy Thursday, April 17, 2025, at 7:30 PM, a solemn vigil service or Khavarman Kisher marking the Passion of Christ was commemorated at St. Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral. presided over by Holiness Catholicos Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenian Church, Holy See of Cilicia, and Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC).

On Maundy Thursday, Christ shared His last supper with the apostles in the upper room, where He washed their feet and instituted Holy Communion. On April 17, 2025, His Holiness Catholicos Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenian Church, Holy See of Cilicia, and Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) presided over the day’s events, which began with the Canon of Repentance and morning Eucharist, followed by the Washing of the Feet Service and concluded with the evening service of “Lamentations.”

In his meditations written for the Good Friday Way of the Cross at the Colosseum—presided over this evening, 18 April, by Cardinal Baldo Reina on behalf of His Holiness Pope Francis—the Holy Father explains that, faced with inhuman economies built on calculation and algorithms, cold logic and implacable interests, the only change of course is to turn to the Savior.

By Tiziana Campisi

A path offered to every human being—a journey inward, a reckoning of conscience, pausing on Christ’s sufferings on the way to Calvary. In his Via Crucis meditations, Pope Francis shows that the Way of the Cross is indeed the descent Jesus undertook “toward this world that God loves” (Station II). It is also “a response, an acceptance of responsibility” by Christ. He who, “nailed to the Cross,” intercedes, placing Himself “between conflicting parties” (Station XI), and carries them to God, for His “cross tears down walls, cancels debts, quashes judgments, establishes reconciliation.” Jesus, “the true Jubilee,” stripped of His garments and revealed even “to those who watch Him die,” looks upon them “as beloved ones entrusted by the Father,” showing His desire to save “all of us, each and every one” (Station X).

On Good Friday, April 18, 2025, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, and Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) presided over the Midday Service of the Friday of Passion at St. George Patriarchal Cathedral in Bab Touma.

From the General Secretariat of the Greek Patriarchate of Jerusalem

On the evening of Holy Thursday, 4th / 17th April 2025, the Service of the Holy Passion was held in the Monastic and Patriarchal Church of Saints Constantine and Helen.

This Service was presided over by His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem and honorary President of the Middel East Council of Churches, who read the first Gospel, while the remaining eleven Gospels were read by Their Eminences: Metropolitan Isychios of Capitolias, Metropolitan Makarios of Ainea, Archbishops Theophanes of Gerash, Dorotheos of Avila, Aristarchos of Constantina, Methodios of Tabor, Nektarios of Anthedon, Metropolitan Joachim of Helenopolis, Archimandrite Elder Dragoman Matthaios, Elder Kamarasis Nektarios, and Archdeacon Mark.

Chaldean Patriarchate Media

The celebration of Good Friday took place at St. Joseph Cathedral in Baghdad, presided over by His Beatitude Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako, Patriarch of the Chaldeans in Iraq and the World, and Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches, on Friday, April 18, 2025.

On April 17, 2025, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, and Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) celebrated the service of the washing of the feet at St. George Patriarchal Cathedral in Bab Touma, Damascus.

On the occasion of Easter 2025, His Eminence Bishop Sani Ibrahim Azar, Head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and The Holy Land (ELCJHL), and Member of the Executive Committee of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), delivered a message, which you can listen to and watch it in the following video.

Maundy Thursday- Foot Washing Service at the Armenian Orthodox Church of Saint James, Jerusalem. His Eminence Bishop Hosam Elias Naoum, the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem, and the Primate of the Episcopal Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East had the privilage and honour to read the Holy Gospel of John chapter 13.

On the occasion of Easter Message 2025, His Eminence Bishop Hosam Elias Naoum, the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem, and the Primate of the Episcopal Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East, sent a pastoral message to the faithful in the Archdiocese of Jerusalem, entitled “By the Resurrection, We Live in Peace, Justice, and Hope”.

You can find below the text of this message.

His Holiness Pope Francis visits Rome’s Regina Coeli prison on the afternoon of Thursday, marking a return to the historic penitentiary where he celebrated the Holy Thursday liturgy in 2018.

By Vatican News

Pope Francis marked Holy Thursday with a visit to Rome’s Regina Coeli prison, continuing a tradition he has observed since the beginning of his pontificate: drawing close to those living behind bars. While unable this year to celebrate the liturgy of the Lord’s Supper and the Washing of the Feet, the Pope greeted inmates personally, offered them words of encouragement, and gifted each of them with a Rosary and a pocket-sized Gospel.

‎On April 17, 2025, His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, and Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) celebrated the Holy Qurobo on Maundy Thursday at St. Georges Patriarchal Cathedral in Bab Touma - Damascus.

On the morning of Great and Holy Thursday, 4th/17th April 2025, the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great was celebrated in the Holy Church of Saint James the Brother of the Lord, presided over by His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem and honorary President of the Middel East Council of Churches. Concelebrating were their Eminences, Archbishops Aristarchos of Constantina, Theodosios of Sebastia, Nektarios of Anthedon, and Philoumenos of Pella, with the participation of the Elder Kamarasis, Archimandrite Nektarios as the leading priest, Archimandrite Meletios, and other priests from fellow Orthodox countries, along with Archdeacon Mark and the deacons Eulogios, Dositheos, and Simeon. The chanting was led in Greek by the chief Byzantine cantor of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Deacon Eustathios, and in Arabic by the choir of the Holy Church, attended by a large and devout congregation.

From the General Secretariat of the Greek Patriarchate of Jerusalem

On the evening of Holy Wednesday, 3rd/16th April 2025, the Sacrament of Holy Unction was celebrated at the Holy Monastic Church of Saints Constantine and Helen. The service was presided over by His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem and honorary President of the Middel East Council of Churches together with five Hierarchs of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre and His Eminence Metropolitan Makarios of Aneon from the Ecumenical Patriarchate, who was visiting. Thus, the total number of celebrants was seven, corresponding to the number of Apostolic readings and Gospel narratives prescribed for this Sacrament.

Gen 22:1-18; Ex 12:1-14; Prov 9:1-6. 10-11; Cor 11:23-26; John 13:1-15 

Dear brothers and sisters,  
bishops, priests, seminarians, religious men and women religious, faithful and pilgrims,  
may the Lord give you peace! 

We are gathered today for the annual commemoration of Christ’s Passover, right here where it was fulfilled. In the mysteries of Maundy Thursday, which we celebrate, it is like an anticipation and summary. Here is revealed to us the deepest desire of Jesus, the intention that inspired Him in the days of His passion, His way of being in the world in order to save it. 

On Great and Holy Tuesday, April 15, 2025, during the evening service at St. Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral in Antelias, the parable of the Ten Maidens was presented, emphasizing the mystery of the Second Coming of Christ. Students from the Sunday School of the Catholicosate took part in the ceremony, dressed in church vestments and holding lanterns to represent the ten maidens from the Gospel. During the reading, the “wise” virgins kept their candles lit, symbolizing their readiness, while the “foolish” ones extinguished theirs, representing indifference to the Second Coming.

You can find below the Easter 2025 Message from His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.

His Beatitude Patriarch John X, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, and President of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) for the Orthodox Family, presided over the Third Bridegroom Service at the Mariamite Cathedral in Damascus.

You can click here to check all the photos.