The Vespers Service of the Resurrection was solemnly celebrated on Easter Sunday morning, the 19th of April. The Ecumenical Patriarch performed the Vespers Service of the Resurrection at the Patriarchal Cathedral of St. George, where he read the Gospel in Greek and then clergymen read it again in various languages.
In his homily, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew tried to console and support the flock, which for the first time was worldwide far from the Church during the Holy Week and the celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord. “Nothing and no one, no natural disaster, no pandemic, no temptation, no human, no obstacle, is able to extinguish our faith in the Risen Christ. The Orthodox Christian faith is the driving force and the victorious power that reigns in the world,” he added.
“The Orthodox Church will never die! Is there any Orthodox Christian who has misgivings about that? Can Christ be defeated by the forces of darkness? It is impossible! On the contrary, the Church protects us, heals us, without needing our energy. The Church was established and became powerful in times of persecution when Christians were being thrown to the lions at the Colosseum. We do not live in such conditions today! We are now simply protecting the reputation of our Church from calumnies. We confess that the Church, even in times when the temples are closed, its heart remains wide open to everybody. The blessing of the Church overcomes any pandemic because it is God’s epidemic! The Orthodox Church lives and will continue to live eternally! It will never die,” he said.
