On Friday, April 11th, 2025, His Holiness Catholicos Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenian Church, Holy See of Cilicia, and Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches sent a letter to Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches. In his message, Catholicos Aram I expressed deep sorrow and protest regarding the conference titled “Christianity in Azerbaijan,” held at the Vatican’s Gregorian University. He criticized the conference for being organized unilaterally, noting that the topics discussed and the speakers involved—particularly those related to the Armenian Church—were unjust, especially given the absence of Armenian speakers.

On April 13, 2025, His Holiness Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, The Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches,celebrated the Holy Qurobo on the occasion of Palms Sunday, at St. Peter and St. Paul Cathedral in Baghdad.

On April 11, 2025, His Holiness Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East and Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, The Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches, received their Excellencies: Avak Assadourian, the former Armenian Orthodox Archbishop of Baghdad, Mor Aphrem Youssef Abba, Syriac Catholic Archbishop of Baghdad, and Nerses Zabarian, Armenian Catholic Archbishop of Baghdad, at the Archdiocesan Headquarters in Baghdad.

In a live broadcast, His Beatitude Patriarch Mor Ignatius Youssef III Younan, Patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church of Antioch and Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches, presided over the Nahireh Service from the Church of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, at the Patriarchal See in Beirut, Lebanon.
This video was published on the official Facebook page of the Syriac Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch.

In a live broadcast, His Beatitude Father Patriarch Mor Ignatius Youssef III Younan, Patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church of Antioch and Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches, celebrated the Divine Liturgy for Palm Sunday, including the procession, from the Church of Saints Behnam and Sarah, Fanar — Lebanon.
This video was published on the official Facebook page of the Syriac Catholic Patriarchate of Antioch.

Palm Sunday Grief: A Sanctuary of Healing Struck in the Land of the Divine Healer

Jerusalem, April 13, 2025

On this sacred Palm Sunday, as the faithful around the world raise palm branches in remembrance of our Lord Jesus Christ’s entry into Jerusalem—an entry marked not by conquest, but by meekness, peace, and divine compassion—we find our hearts weighed with sorrow over the suffering endured in the very land upon which He walked.

In the early light of this holy day, the al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital in Gaza, a place consecrated to healing and long rooted in the Christian vocation of mercy, was struck by an Israeli air assault that rendered its emergency and other critical departments inoperative. Patients in fragile condition, including children, were forced into the open streets. Among them, a twelve-year-old who perished during the chaotic evacuation. This death, like so many others, is a silent cry, a reminder of the innocent who suffer where care should prevail.

 “Hosanna to the Son of David. blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. hosanna in the highest.” (Mt 21:9) 

Dearly beloved, 
may the Lord give you peace! 

I greet to all of you here, faithful of our diocese, the few pilgrims present. I also send greetings to those who are not here with us physically but are united with us in prayer. Today our whole diocese, the Church of Jerusalem, is united with us and praying with us. From Gaza to Nazareth; from Bethlehem to Jenin. All of Jordan and Cyprus are praying with us and ideally have entered with us into the Holy City, Jerusalem. And I especially greet you, the Christians of Jerusalem, for this day, which is dedicated to you, which is especially yours, for you are those here in Jerusalem who keep the flame of the Christian faith alive and keep Christ’s presence alive in our midst. 

On Friday, April 11, 2025, in a day filled with deep feelings of faith and hope, the town of Yafa of Nazareth witnessed the celebration of the Way of the Cross, an event that became a living testimony to the unity of the churches and the believing community. It took place in a moving spiritual atmosphere, with wide participation from various Churches.

The celebration was presided over by H.B. Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, accompanied by Msgr. Rafic Nahra, Patriarchal Vicar in Galilee, and His Excellency Msgr. Youssef Matta, Archbishop of Akko, Haifa, Nazareth, and all Galilee for the Greek Catholics. Also in attendance were Archbishop Ilario Antoniazzi, Msgr. Boulos Marcuzzo, parish priests of Yafa of Nazareth, as well as numerous priests, religious, and faithful from surrounding parishes and towns.

The Head of the Supreme Council of the Evangelical Community in Syria and Lebanon and member of the MECC executive committee,, Rev. Joseph Kassab, and Rev. Najla Kassab received the President of the Reformed Church Council in Europe under the World Communion of Reformed Churches Martina Wasserloss, accompanied by Head of Ecumenical Church Relations at the Reformed Church in Hungary Julia Berecz. The visit took place on the sidelines of their participation in a conference held at the Dhour El Shweir Evangelical Conference Center, which brought together women from Lebanon, Syria, Ukraine, and Northern Ireland to share their stories of perseverance during times of war.

On Thursday 10 April 2025, His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark received at the Papal Residence in Cairo, H.E. Archbishop Dr. Samy Fawzy, Archbishop of the Episcopal Church in Egypt, North Africa, and the Horn of Africa, along with his accompanying delegation, who came to extend their greetings to His Holiness on the occasion of the Glorious Feast of the Resurrection.

On Thursday 10 April 2025, His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, received at the Papal Residence in Cairo, Dr. Rev. Andrea Zaki, Head of the Evangelical denomination in Egypt, accompanied by a delegation of representatives from the bodies and councils affiliated with the Evangelical denomination, who came to extend their greetings to His Holiness on the occasion of the Glorious Feast of the Resurrection.

On April 11, 2025, His Holiness Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, Supreme Head of the Syriac Orthodox Church of the World, and Honorary President of the Middle East Council of Churches arrived to Baghdad. He presided over the ramsho prayer at St Peter and St Paul Cathedral.

To the fullness of the Church, grace, mercy, and peace from the All-Holy and Life-Giving Tomb of the Risen Christ.

“Though Thou didst descend into the tomb, O Immortal One,

Yet didst Thou destroy the power of Hades;

And Thou didst rise again as victor, O Christ God,

Proclaiming ‘Rejoice!’ to the Myrrh-bearing women,

And granting peace unto Thine Apostles,

Thou who bestowest resurrection upon the fallen.”

(Kontakion of the Sunday of Pascha)

With unspeakable and full joy, with thanksgiving and doxology unto our all-good God, the Holy Church of Christ celebrates, on this “saving and radiant night,” the mystery of the Resurrection from the dead of its Founder, our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ. It celebrates the wondrous truth that the Son and Word of God, who “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1), “was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). As Saint Athanasius the Great declares, in Him came to be “a union of two dissimilar things by nature: Godhead and manhood” (PG 77, 571A). In the flesh which He assumed, by the good pleasure of the Father and out of His supreme love for mankind, He willingly accepted death on our behalf—even the death of the Cross under Pontius Pilate.

“For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, says the Lord.” (Jeremiah 30:17)

The Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society (EMMS) organized a special ecumenical gathering under the theme: Healing Our Weakness on Thursday, April 10, 2025, at Nazareth Hospital, one of the key institutions hosting the Society’s programs aimed at serving marginalized communities.

This spiritual event, held during the blessed Lenten season, brought together Christians to pray in unity for healing and reconciliation, with the participation of: H.E. Msgr. Rafiq Nahra, Patriarchal Vicar for Galilee, and His Eminence Bishop Hosam Elias Naoum, the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem, and the Primate of the Episcopal Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East, Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem, along with a number of priests, pastors, religious, and faithful.

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.