HOLY WEEK AND THE FIRST RESURRECTION AT THE PATRIARCHATE OF ALEXANDRIA

The Holy Services of Great and Holy Week were served in all the Churches of Alexandria this year, with particular piety. His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria conducted all the Holy Services, visiting the Parish Communities of the Great City.

Particular mention is made of the service of the Holy Passion and the Epitaphios as usual at the Holy Church of the Annunciation of the Theotokos and the procession of the Epitaphios around the Church, officiated at by His Beatitude, together with the Hellenic Scout Group and in the presence of His Excellency the Ambassador of Greece to Egypt Mr. Christodoulos Lazaris, the Honorable Consul General of Greece in Alexandria Mr. Christos Kapodistrias, the 1st Vice Chairman of the Hellenic Community of Alexandria Mr. Nicholas Kopelos, Chairmen and members of Hellenic Societies and Associations and many faithful. During the procession of the Holy Epitaphios His Beatitude the Patriarch prayed for the repose of his predecessors of blessed memory, in front of the Patriarchal Mansion.

On the morning of Holy Friday the Service of the Royal Hours and Vespers preceded the Deposition at the Holy Cathedral of St Savvas, and later His Beatitude visited and venerated at all the Churches and the Hellenic Cemetery in the Great City, where he conducted the memorial prayers for the repose of the souls of those who over the ages have passed away.

On the morning of Holy Saturday, he officiated at the Divine Liturgy of the First Resurrection at the above-named Cathedral, where students from the Patriarchal Academy sang the hymns of the day in African languages, and the Honorable Consul General threw down clay pots in the grounds of the Patriarchal Monastery, according to the tradition of his birthplace, the Island of Corfu.