On April 19, 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 Holy Qurobo celebrated by Rev. Fr. Sleman Shalouha on the occasion of the Saturday of Lights, at St. Georges Patriarchal Cathedral, Damascus.

On April 18, 2025, is 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 services of the worship and burial of the Cross at St. George Cathedral in Bab Touma - Damascus.

His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem and honorary President of the Middel East Council of Churches, calls for reflection on the celebration of Easter 2025, which falls on the same day for Christians of East and West. He urges walking together also to achieve peace and security in the Holy Land. He writes, "a sound foundation has been laid but there is yet more to be done. We continue in this work confident in God's providence and renewed in the unconquered hope that is given to us in the Empty Tomb."

His Beatitude Theophilos III, Patriarch of Jerusalem, on Celebrating Easter Together

This year Christians of the East and the West celebrate Easter on the same day. We shall not see. this alignment again for almost a decade, and it is therefore important for us to reflect on its significance, especially for Christians in the Holy Land.

This year also sees the 1700th  anniversary of the Great Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, when the basis of our shared faith was articulated in the Creed that this Council promulgated.

From the General Secretariat of the Greek Patriarchate of Jerusalem

At 11:00 p.m. on Holy Friday, 5th/18th April 2025, the Epitaph Service—the Divine Burial of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ—was held at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

For this service, the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre, accompanied by His Eminence Metropolitan Makarios of Ainea of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, who was their guest, and led by His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem and honorary President of the Middel East Council of Churches, proceeded to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as the bells tolled mournfully. They passed through the Deposition from the Cross and the Holy Sepulchre and entered the Catholicon.

There, the Canon of Great Saturday was chanted until the Patriarch instructed the priests to vest, and the Hierarchs and Priests put on their liturgical garments.

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.

Gen 1:1 - 2:2; Gen 22:1-18; Ex 14:15- 15:1; Is 54:5-14; Is 55:1-11; Bar 3:9-15.32 - 4:4; Ez 36:16-17a.18-28; Rom 6:3-11; Lk 24:1-12 

Dear brothers and sisters,  
may the Lord give you peace! 

Today, we also do as the women do when they go early in the morning to anoint the body of Jesus. They see that the stone has been removed from the tomb and that the tomb is empty, and they wonder about the meaning of what has happened (Luke 24:4). We too wonder about the meaning of what has happened 

We ask ourselves what is the meaning of what happened here two thousand years ago: what does the resurrection of Jesus mean for us, what does it bring back into our existence, especially in this time when everything seems to speak of the opposite, of death and darkness. 

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.