Luke 15:1-3,11-32

At the center of the parable told in today’s liturgy (Luke 15:1-3,11-32), the well-known parable of the Merciful Father, is a house in which a father lives with his two sons. 

A key to entering this passage, we find with a phrase found towards the end of the story, where we discover that the eldest son “became angry, and refused to enter the house” (Luke 15:28). 

So, there is a house into which a son does not want to go and prefers to stay outside. 

We also discover that not only the eldest son but also the youngest son has problems with this house: he too is away from home. He has asked his father for his share of the inheritance and has left (“collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country” - Lk 15:13). Nothing is known about where he went, except that this place is far from home. 

On Monday, 25th March / 7th April 2025, the Patriarchate celebrated the Theotokos’ Feast of the Annunciation. On this feast, the Church commemorates the event when the Archangel Gabriel, who had previously appeared in the Old Testament as the angel of the Mighty God, visited the maiden Mary in Nazareth and announced to her that, by the Holy Spirit, she would conceive and bear the Son of God, the awaited Messiah. In response, despite her confusion and fear, Mary answered: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38, KJV), revealing the holy pattern of humility and obedience by which the mind and sin of the former Eve were overcome, and the way was opened for the incarnation of the Son of God, in accordance with the divine plan for the regeneration and salvation of humankind. Thus, Mary revealed to the world that she is indeed the highly favoured Virgin, of whom the Prophet Isaiah had prophesied: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14, KJV).

There was a lot of hope in recent months first with the ceasefire agreement with Lebanon, followed by a ceasefire agreement in Gaza.

The guns stopped, [Israeli] hostages were released and the humanitarian supplies flowed in large quantities to Gaza bringing temporary relief that was thought to be the beginning of the end of this very long, bloody, and destructive war. Moving to the second phase of the agreement never materialized and [Israel] restarted its military attack on Gaza at a level not seen before.

The Antelias Pilgrimage Day and the feast commemorating St. Gregory the Illuminator’s descent into the pit (Khor Virab) were celebrated at the Catholicosate of Cilicia on Sunday, April 6, 2025. The occasion included a grand pontifical procession featuring seminarians, clergy from the Cilician Brotherhood, the Armenian Prelacy of Lebanon, Lebanese Armenian scouts, and the faithful. During the procession, His Holiness and the clergy carried the sacred relic of St. Gregory along with other saints, touring the Catholicosate and blessing the faithful.

On the evening of Saturday, April 5, 2025, a vigil service was held at St. Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral in Antelias to commemorate the Antelias Pilgrimage Day. His Holiness Catholicos Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenian Church, Holy See of Cilicia, and Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches, presided over the service and delivered a sermon focused on the theme of the Christ-Light.

On the Pilgrimage Day of the Catholicosate of Cilicia, celebrated on the eve of the feast of St. Gregory the Illuminator’s Descent into the Pit (Khor Virab), His Holiness Catholicos Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenian Church, Holy See of Cilicia, and Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches, along with the Cilician Brotherhood, retrieves the relic of St. Gregory and other sacred relics from the Cilicia Museum.

On the evening of 22nd March / 4th April 2025, the service of the Akathist Hymn took place at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. According to the typical order, within the framework of the Small Compline service, the hymns of the Akathist were chanted, specifically the “I will open my mouth” and the four Stases of the Akathist Hymn were read melodiously.

From the Secretariat-General of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem - From the Holy Archdiocese of Qatar

Between Wednesday, 13th/26th March 2025 and Saturday, 16th/29th March 2025, His Beatitude Patriarch John I of Antioch and All the East officially visited the Emirate of Qatar and the Archdiocese of Qatar. His Beatitude Patriarch John I arrived at Hamad International Airport in Doha at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, 13th/26th March 2025, where he was welcomed by His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Qatar.

On Friday, April 4, 2025, His Beatitude Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, presided over the redidcated the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows in the town of Aboud, following the completion of its restoration and renovation works.