NEWS
Meditation Of His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa : Easter Sunday 2025
Acts 10:34,37-43; Col 3:1-4; Jn 20:1-9
Brothers and sisters,
may the Lord give you peace!
Once again this year we have come here, to the foot of Christ’s empty Tomb, to celebrate the end of Passion Week, which is also the heart of the life of the Church, of our faith. It is our only certainty that underlies our existence: Christ is risen!
We want to ask ourselves about the meaning of this celebration and this day in the dramatic historical context in which we live. What does it mean for the Church in Jerusalem today to encounter and bear witness to the Risen Christ?
Easter Message 2025 by UAECNE's Acting President, Rev. Dr. Paul Haidostian
Reverend Dr. Paul Haidostian, President of the Union of the Armenian Evangelical Churches in the Near East (UAECNE), and President of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) for the Evangelical Family.
ՎԵՐԱՊԱՏՈՒԵԼԻ ՓՈԼ ՀԱՅՏՈՍԹԵԱՆ
ՄԱՀԱԵՄ-Ի ՆԱԽԱԳԱՀԻ ՏԵՂԱՊԱՀ
Քրիստոսի յարութեան պատմութիւնը յեղափոխական եւ փրկարար միտք է բոլոր անոնց համար, որոնք հաստատապէս կը հաւատան, թէ կեանքի ու մահուան իրականութիւնները չեն սահմանափակուիր բնական օրէնքներով ու սովորական դրոյթներով: Իրապէս, արմատականօրէն յեղաշրջող է Խաչեալի յարութեան իրականութիւնը, որովհետեւ մեր առջեւ կը բանայ ոչ միայն մահէն ասդին, այլ մանաւանդ` մահէն անդին իսկական կեանք ունենալու յաւիտենական պարգեւը:
Good Friday Commemoration in Antelias presided over by His Holiness Catholicos Aram I
On Good Friday, April 18, 2025, a solemn service at St. Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral in Antelias commemorated the burial of our Lord Jesus Christ, 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).
His Holiness Pope Francis on Easter Vigil: May the light of the Resurrection illumine our hearts
In his homily for the Easter Vigil read by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re presiding on his behalf, His Holiness Pope Francis explains how this celebration "reminds us that the light of the Resurrection illumines our path" and our hearts. The Pope made a brief visit to St. Peter's Basilica a couple hours before the celebrations for a moment of prayer and to draw close to the faithful gathering for the Easter Vigil in the Basilica.
By Thaddeus Jones
In his homily read by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals, during the Easter Vigil in Saint Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis underscored how “the light of the Resurrection illumines our path one step at a time,” breaking through the darkness of history and shining in our hearts. Cardinal Re presided over the Easter Vigil on behalf of Pope Francis who has been limiting his public activities as he continues recovery from his respiratory illnesses of recent months.
His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II presided over the Holy Qurobo on the occasion of the Saturday of Lights
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.
His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II celebrated the services of the worship and burial of the Cross at St. George Cathedral in Bab Touma - 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: Dialogue is the only way to unity and peace
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.
The Epitaph Service at the Greek Patriarchate of Jerusalem
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.
The Royal Hours of Good Friday at the Greek Patriarchate of Jerusalem
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.
Meditation Of His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa : Paschal Vigil 2025
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.
His Eminence Bishop Hossam Naoum Presides Over Good Friday Service at St. George the Martyr Cathedral
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.
His Eminence Bishop Hossam Naoum Presides Over Maundy Thursday Service and Foot Washing at St. George the Martyr Cathedral
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.
“Khavarman Kisher:” A Solemn Vigil Presided over by His Holiness Aram I
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).
The Washing of Feet Ceremony on Maundy Thursday at the Catholicosate of Cilicia in Antelias
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.”
His Holiness Pope Francis’s Via Crucis meditations: Embrace God’s economy in a world of algorithms
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).
His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II presided over the Midday Service of the Friday of Passion at St. George Patriarchal Cathedral in Bab Touma
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.
The Service of the Holy Passion in the Monastic and Patriarchal Church of Saints Constantine and Helen
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.
Video - Celebration of Good Friday Led by His Beatitude Patriarch Sako at St. Joseph Cathedral in Baghdad
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.