Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew sent a message to the faithful in his homily during the Vespers service on Palm Sunday.
As he stated, “This Holy Week and Pascha, beloved Christians, your Patriarch and the clergy of the Phanar will pray more intensely for all of you.
Here, in the great Monastery of Orthodoxy, we shall deposit your names with love in the Cup of Life.”
He also stressed that “you will not receive the ‘Holy Fire’ by candle on Pascha, but it will still kindle your hearts.
Open up your hearts on that radiant Night of the Resurrection in order that the light of the sleepless lantern of the Holy Great Church of Christ may shine in them.”