A day earlier, on Holy Monday, the Service of the Bridegroom, known in Greek as Nymphaio, was celebrated in Orthodox churches and chapels around the world.
From the northeast Aegean Island of Imbros, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, His All Holiness Bartholomew I, on Monday officiated at the reverent and solemn Bridegroom Service, and the subsequent Patriarchal Orthros of Holy Tuesday.
In the morning, His All Holiness officiated at the Archieratical Divine Liturgy of the Pre-sanctified Gifts, held at the St. George Cathedral, in his ancestral village of Aghii Theodori.
The Shephard of the Mother Church lit a candle in memory of one of his honored predecessors, Hieromartyr Patriarch Gregory V, whose memory is venerated by the Church on April 10, while praying for the Church and the Greek nation.
After the Divine Liturgy, His All Holiness officiated at a Trisagion memorial service for the repose of the soul of Archbishop of North and South America Iakovos, before visiting the grammar school in the village, where he himself began his education, and meeting with teachers and pupils.
In another part of southeast Europe, the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania’s Metropolitan of Amantia, His Eminence Nathaniel, on Holy Monday officiated at the Service of the Bride-groom at the Cathedral of the Resurrection of the Lord, in Tirana. The resident Archbishop, His Beatitude Anastasios, co-officiated at the solemn Holy Week service.
In another corner of the world, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, His Holiness Kirill, officiated at the great Divine Liturgy at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the Savior, in Moscow.