Great and Holy Friday in the Finnish Parish of Stockholm

At midday of Friday, 29 March 2024, His Eminence Metropolitan Cleopas of Sweden and All Scandinavia, who was joined by the Priest of the Cathedral Church of Saint George, Stockholm, Archimandrite Bartholomew Iatridis, presided over the Service of the Taking Christ down from the Cross and the Lamentations at the Finnish Parish of Saint Nicholas in Stockholm, which follows the typikon of the Finnish Orthodox Church, according to the Gregorian calendar.

The Finnish and Estonian Orthodox Churches were always considered a special case regarding their adoption of the Gregorian Calendar for very sensitive reasons. There was intense pressure by the Finnish government to have the Finnish Orthodox adopt the Gregorian Calendar and distance itself as much as possible from the Russians.

The Hymns and readings were rendered in Finnish, Karelian, Swedish, Greek, English and Slavonic, by the Metropolitan and the many-membered parish choir.

At the conclusion of the Service, His Eminence Metropolitan Cleopas conveyed the Paschal wishes of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, to the Primate of the Church of Finland, His Beatitude Archbishop Leo of Karelia and All Finland, and the clergy and laity of the Finnish Church, he also addressed to the Congregation with an appropriate address for the commemorations of Great and Holy Friday and wished the light of the Resurrection of Christ to illuminate the life and works of all.

Source: Arxon.gr