Reflecting on Holy Week and Pascha 2026 at St Anthony the Great

Christ is risen! Χριστὸς ἀνέστη!

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

As we celebrated Pascha last week, I want to take a moment to reflect on the services of Holy Week here at St Anthony the Great. It was wonderful to see so many of you attending and praying together throughout the week.
We began with the Bridegroom services Sundays to Tuesday and then had the sacrament of Holy Unction on Wednesday evening followed by Matins for the Good Thursday. On Thursday morning we celebrated the last Supper and in the evening, we heard the reading of the Twelve Passion Gospels and participated in the procession of the Crucified Christ. On Holy Friday morning, we read the Royal Hours, and then at 3 o'clock, we took our Lord down from the Cross and buried Him. Later that evening, our community gathered to decorate the Epitaphios with flowers and hold the traditional lamentation services.
On early Saturday morning, during the Vesperal Liturgy, we experienced the first joyful signs of the Resurrection. It was a wonderful moment when we created lots of noise throughout the church as the hymn "Arise, O God, and judge the earth, for to Thee belong all the nations" was sung.
Our week then reached its climax with the joy of the Anastasis service which we celebrated on Saturday evening with around 300 parishioners attending. Hearing the proclamation of the Resurrection, sharing the light, and singing together was a fitting end to our Lenten preparation. Later on Sunday afternoon, we gathered once more for the Vespers of Love (Agape). A true highlight of this service was hearing the Gospel read in a total of 19 different languages, a powerful reminder of the universal message of Christ's victory.
If you would like to look back on these events, please visit the home page of our website and the events page. We have posted a selection of pictures from all of the Holy Week and Pascha services.
I want to extend a sincere thank you to everyone who worked hard to clean and prepare the church, to those who sang and read, and to everyone who served during a busy but rewarding week.
With love in the Risen Christ,
Fr Symeon

• English: Christ is Risen! – He is Risen indeed!

• Greek: Χριστὸς ἀνέστη! – Ἀληθῶς ἀνέστη! (Christos anesti! – Alithos anesti!)

• Russian: Христос воскресе! – Воистину воскресе! (Khristos voskrese! – Voistinu voskrese!)

• Romanian: Hristos a înviat! – Adevărat a înviat!