HOLY WEEK IN ALEXANDRIA

The Holy Week Services were served with religious devotion in all the Holy Churches of Alexandria. His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa led all the Holy Services, visiting the Parish Communities of Great City.

In particular, the usual celebration of the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts by His Beatitude on Holy Monday in the Holy Patriarchal Church of Saint Savvas the Sanctified, the Sacrament of Holy Unction in the Arab Orthodox Parish Community of the Theotokos of Alexandria on Holy Wednesday, the Service of the Holy Passion and the Lamentations of the Epitaphios at the Holy Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Theotokos and the circumambulation of the Epitaphios around the Church, officiated by His Beatitude, who was together with the Hierarchal Head of the Church, His Eminence Panteleimon of Ptolemais, Chief Secretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Supreme Patriarchate, accompanied by the Hellenic Scouts Group and the presence of the Esteemed Consul General of Greece in Alexandria Mr. Ioannis Pyrgakis, the Honourable Chairman of the Hellenic Community of Alexandria Mr. Andreas Vafiades and the Members of the Community Committee, the Chairlady of the Hellenic Naval Group of Alexandria and of the Association of Greek Scientists “Ptolemy I” Mrs. Irene-Lilika Thliviti, Presidents and members of Greek clubs and organizations and believers.

During the circumambulation of the Holy Epitaphios, His Beatitude prayed for the repose of His late blesses Predecessors in front of the Patriarchal Palace, for late blessed Presidents and Members of the Hellenic Community of the Great City and for the Great National Benefactors. He also fervently prayed for peace to prevail in the long-suffering region of the Middle East, in Ukraine, where the peoples are being tested by wars and fratricidal bloodshed.

In conclusion, he expressed his gratitude to the Presidents of the Egyptian and Cypriot Republics, as well as to the President of the Hellenic Republic, for the undivided support of the respective states to the ancient Patriarchate, while with emotion he expressed the righteous praise of the Church and his paternal love to the holy Hierarchy and the holy clergy of the Apostolic and Patriarchal Throne of Alexandria for their selfless sacrificial ministry and their multilateral missionary work for the peoples of Africa.

On the morning of Holy Friday, the Service of the Holy Hours and the Vespers of the Deposition were held at the Holy Monastery of Saint Savvas, while later His Beatitude the Patriarch made a pilgrimage to all the Churches and the Greek Cemetery of the Holy City, where he served a memorial service for the repose of the souls of Christians who over the centuries have fallen asleep.