Jerusalem Patriarch blesses Christians worldwide ahead of Pascha
Patriarch Theophilos issued a message on the eve of the Resurrection of Christ.
In his 2025 Paschal message, His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem, with “inexpressible and complete joy, with thanksgiving and praise to the all-good God,” proclaimed the glorious truth of Christ’s Resurrection. The Church celebrates the triumph of life over death, hope over despair, and blesses its faithful from the sacred site of the Lord’s Resurrection, as stated in his Easter message.
Patriarch Theophilos emphasized that Christ, in accordance with the will of the Father and out of His boundless love for humanity, willingly accepted death for our sake – even death on the Cross under Pontius Pilate. His “God-inspired blood” was shed “outside the gate” (Heb. 13:12), and He was buried in the very tomb where the Holy Zion now celebrates the Divine Eucharist.
The Patriarch of Jerusalem highlighted that the Risen Lord, having ascended into heaven, sent the Holy Spirit so that through the apostles He might gather all nations into one net and establish the Church, which continues His mission of “ministry, reconciliation, unity, and the salvation of mankind.”
“This is precisely the work being carried out daily at the holy places by the Mother of all Churches – Holy Zion – and especially at this hour, at the life-giving Tomb of Christ, where He rose. From this sacred place she blesses her flock scattered across the world and the devout pilgrims who have hastened here ‘from the west, and from the sea, and from the north, and from the east,’ proclaiming together: ‘Christ is risen from the dead; we bow before His holy Resurrection,’” he concluded.
As previously reported by the UOJ, the Jerusalem Patriarch has also expressed his support for the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
