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The Service of the Second Resurrection at the Patriarchate of Jerusalem

At midday on Easter Sunday, 7th/20th April 2025, the radiant and joyful service of the Second Resurrection, also known as the “Vespers of Love”, was held at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The Ninth Hour of Easter was first read in the hall of the Patriarchate, during which the Patriarch, the Hierarchs, and the Priests vested in their festive Easter episcopal and clerical garments. His Eminence Archbishop Aristovoulos of Madaba, accompanied by his assistants, chanted the melodic, slow, Byzantine “Christ is Risen”.

This was followed by a formal procession, in full episcopal and clerical vestments and accompanied by chanting, along the Christian Road to the Church of the Resurrection, welcomed by the faithful gathered on both sides of the road.

At the courtyard of the Church of the Resurrection, the Hegumen of the Orthodox monks of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Elder Sacristan, His Eminence Archbishop Isidoros of Hierapolis, awaited them, where a supplicatory prayer was offered.

Upon entering the Catholikon, the Vespers of Easter was celebrated, during which the Gospel of Love was read in various languages. This was done as a symbol of the Saviour’s love for all peoples and to signify the spreading of the Gospel message to the entire world. The reading was from the Gospel according to John, describing the appearance of the Risen Christ to His disciples: “On the evening of that day, the first day of the week…” and “after eight days… when Thomas was with them”.

After Vespers, the Patriarchal entourage returned to the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre.

From the General Secretariat

Source: Patriarchate of Jerusalem