Around noon on Easter day, May 5, 2024, the Service of the Second Resurrection took place in the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
It started in the Patriarchal Hall with the psalm of Christ Risen in slow Byzantine music and in the reading of the 9th ode of Pascha, until Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem and the High Priests and Priests were clothed in their celebratory vestments.
After the 9th ode, the Patriarchal Continuity marched to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the bells ringing and the Priests holding their lit candles, chanting continuously Christ Risen through the Christian Way, where many people were waiting to the right and left.
At the courtyard of the Church of the Resurrection, a prayer was offered and the Vespers of the Second Resurrection were celebrated in the Catholicon, presided over by Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem. Co-celebrants were the Holy Sepulchre Fathers, as the service was attended by the Consul General of Greece in Jerusalem, Dimitrios Angelosopoulos, and the Consul, Anna Mantika.
After the Great Entry, the Gospel of the Lord’s appearance to the disciples was read on the first day of the Resurrection “that day, the first of the Sabbaths” (John 20:19) and on the eighth day, “when Thomas was with them’” (Jn. 20,21) in many languages for the declaration of the universality of the Gospel message to the world.
At the end of Vespers, the Patriarchal Entourage returned to the Patriarchate.