Cheesefare Sunday and the 1st Lenten Vespers at the Phanar

On Cheesefare (Forgiveness) Sunday, 2 March 2025, in the afternoon, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew officiated at the 1st Lenten Vespers (The Vespers of Forgiveness), which took place at the venerable Patriarchal Church of Saint George, at the Phanar. At the end of the Vespers, the Hierarchs who were present, the Fathers of the Patriarchal Court, clergy, Archons, as well as the faithful, paid their respects to the Patriarch, asking for his forgiveness, as a preparation for entering the spiritual period of Holy and Great Lent.

On the morning of the same day, the Ecumenical Patriarch officiated at the Divine Liturgy, which was attended in prayer by Their Eminences, Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Myra, Metropolitan Apostolos of New Jersey, and Metropolitan Ioakeim of Bursa, clergy, the Minister of Labor of Greece, Ms. Niki Kerameus, Archons of the Great Church of Christ, faithful from Constantinople and a multitude of pilgrims from abroad.

After the Gospel, the Chief Secretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod, Archimandrite Bosporios, read the Catechetical Homily of the Ecumenical Patriarch for the beginning of Holy and Great Lent.

Immediately afterwards, His All-Holiness had a meeting with Ms. Niki Kerameus, who is making a private pilgrimage to Constantinople, along with her family.

Photographs: Nikos Papachristou