On the evening of Great and Holy Thursday, 9 April 2026, the Service of the Holy Passion of the Lord, namely, the reading of the Twelve Gospels together with the Biblical Readings and the hymns, was held at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, as its Gates are opened on account of the agreed truce of peace.
During this Service, the first Gospel was read by its presiding celebrant, Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem, while the remaining Gospels were read by the Hierarchs and the Archimandrite officials of the Patriarchate according to their rank.
The participation of the faithful in the Service of the Passion was greater, as they hastened to it with great joy, on account of the cessation of the grievous forty-day war.
