Assumption Greek Orthodox Church (Hegewisch)

04/11/2026

Patriarchal Encyclical on the Occasion of Holy Pascha 2026

† B A R T H O L O M E W

BY GOD’S MERCY

ARCHBISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE – NEW ROME

AND ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH

TO THE ENTIRE PLENITUDE OF THE CHURCH:

GRACE, PEACE, AND MERCY FROM CHRIST, RISEN IN GLORY

* * *

Most honourable brother Hierarchs and blessed children in the Lord,

Having arrived, through fasting, prayer, and solemnity, at the radiant and all-festal day of Holy Pascha, we hymn and glorify the world-saving Resurrection of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ, which marks the manifest victory of life over death, renews all creation, and opens to humanity the way of deification by grace. The Church of Christ preserves the paschal experience in her liturgical life, in the labours of the Saints and Martyrs of the faith, in the eschatological impulse of monasticism, in the proclamation of the Gospel “to the ends of the earth,” in theology and the ecclesial arts, in the good witness of the faithful in the world, in the culture of love and solidarity, and in the immovable certainty that evil does not have the final word in history.

The Resurrection of the Lord is lived as a Christ-bestowed freedom, which inspires, nourishes, and strengthens the creative powers of the human person and the good struggle for “whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable,”[1] while reminding us all that the journey toward the Resurrection is inseparably bound to the Cross. The joy of the Cross and the Resurrection has preserved the people of God from identifying themselves with the spirit of this world, while at the same time safeguarding them from barren insularity and a spirituality devoid of dynamism and hope-bearing breath. The life of the faithful, in the crucified and risen Christ “for us men,” still today refutes every alien narrative of Christian ethos as a “morality of the weak,” supposedly embodied in humility, forgiveness, sacrificial love, asceticism, the Lord’s saying “but I say to you, do not resist the evil one,”[2] and other principles and dispositions that belong to the very core of our identity. Nothing could be further from the truth than this reading of the ethos of Christianity — of sacrificial love that “does not seek its own,” a love interwoven with courage, boldness, and existential authenticity. Pascha is a hymn to this freedom, to faith “working through love,”[3] which is not our own achievement but grace and a gift from above, and which is lived in the holy Sacraments of the Church and in the “mystery” of service to one’s neighbour. Indeed, “love for God does not in any way tolerate hatred toward one’s fellow human being.”[4]

The Church of Christ — the “salt of the earth,” the “light of the world,” the city “set on a hill,” the lamp placed “on the lampstand”[5] — bears active witness in the world, before the signs of the times, about the grace that has come and “the hope that is in us.”[6] The message of the Cross and the Resurrection resounds today as a Gospel of peace, reconciliation, and justice. War, hatred, and injustice stand opposed to the fundamental Christian principles for whose realization and establishment the people of God pray and labour each day. In the light of the Resurrection, we beseech the Lord on behalf of the victims of wartime violence, the orphans, the mothers who mourn their children, and all those who bear in body and soul the effects of human cruelty and callousness. “Christ is risen” is a denial and condemnation of violence and fear and an invitation to a life of peace. War brings forth lamentation and death; the Resurrection conquers death and bestows incorruptibility.

Read more here: https://archons-of-the-ecumenical-patriarchate.visitlink.me/9zMtvU

04/11/2026

☦️ 🙏 Thank you to our caring Philoptochos Society members, Parish Council members, and Parishioners who volunteered for decorating our kouvouklion for the Holy Friday service! Your dedication and great teamwork are a true blessing! ☦️ Kali Anastasi! Καλή Ανάσταση! God bless everyone 🙏

04/11/2026

Holy Friday

April 10th

When Friday dawned, Christ was sent bound from Caiaphas to Pontius Pilate, who was then Governor of Judea. Pilate interrogated Him in many ways, and once and again acknowledged that He was innocent, but to please the Jews, he later passed the sentence of death against Him. After scourging the Lord of all as though He were a runaway slave, he surrendered Him to be crucified.

Thus the Lord Jesus was handed over to the soldiers, was stripped of His garments, was clothed in a purple robe, was crowned with a wreath of thorns, had a reed placed in His hand as though it were a sceptre, was bowed before in mockery, was spat upon, and was buffeted in the face and on the head. Then they again clothed Him in His own garments, and bearing the cross, He came to Golgotha, a place of condemnation, and there, about the third hour, He was crucified between two thieves. Although both blasphemed Him at the first, the thief at His right hand repented, and said: "Remember me, O Lord, when Thou comest in Thy Kingdom," to which our Saviour answered, "Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise." As He hung upon the Cross, He was blasphemed by those who were passing by, was mocked by the high priests, and by the soldiers was given vinegar to drink mixed with gall. About the ninth hour, He cried out with a loud voice, saying, "It is finished." And the Lamb of God "Which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29) expired on the day when the moon was full, and at the hour when, according to the Law, was slain the Passover lamb, which was established as a type of Him in the time of Moses.

Even lifeless creation mourned the death of the Master, and it trembled and was altered out of fear. Yet, even though the Maker of creation was already dead, they pierced Him in His immaculate side, and forthwith came there out Blood and Water. Finally, at about the setting of the sun, Joseph of Arimathea came with Nicodemus (both of them had been secret disciples of Jesus), and they took down the all-holy Body of the Teacher from the Cross and anointed it with aromatic spices, and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth. When they had buried Him in a new tomb, they rolled a great stone over its entrance.

Such are the dread and saving sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ commemorated today, and in remembrance of them, we have received the Apostolic commandment that a fast be observed every Friday.

04/11/2026

Tonight, we will chant the incredibly beautiful, moving Lamentations to our Lord and Savior; we will also walk with the Kouvouklion that contains the Epitafio in a procession with candles and chanting.
Stay with us through His funeral, as we also await His glorious Resurrection.

04/10/2026

Did you know that the Epitaphios is a symbol of death overcoming death?

The Epitaphios is a large, beautiful cloth with an embroidered icon of Christ’s dead body lying on the tomb. While Christ appears to sleep, He has descended into Hades to release the captive souls of the righteous in the great “Harrowing of Hell" (Greek: ἡ εἰς Ἅδου κάθοδος).

Epitaphios in Greek (Ἐπιτάφιος) means “on the tomb.” The name of the icon on the cloth is called the “Lamentations at the Tomb,” (Greek: Ἐπιτάφιος θρῆνος) which is based on the Gospel account in John 19:38-42.

Initially, the cloth was used to cover the Gospel book as it was brought out on Holy Friday for veneration. Over time, the cloth became the focus of the liturgical services of Holy Friday and Saturday. During the Vespers service of Apokathelosis (“Unnailing from the Cross”) on Holy Friday, the Epitaphios is brought out from the altar to be processed and placed inside the wooden tomb, called the “Kouvouklion.” The Gospel book is placed on top of the Epitaphios. During Orthros (Matins) for Holy Saturday — celebrated in the evening of Holy Friday — the tomb, decorated with flowers, is processed around the church in a funeral-like procession with the singing of Lamentations.

Holy Saturday is the day between the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is the epitome of “bright sadness” and “joyful sorrow” (Greek: χαρμολύπη) — the tension between mourning and celebration that characterizes Great Lent and Holy Week. It is a “Sabbath rest” for Christ and a day of watchful expectation for us, as we anticipate the victory of eternal life overcoming death and the eternal beatitude (blessing) that is promised to those who mourn.

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04/10/2026

04/10/2026

It is said that the distance between Golgotha, where our Lord died in the flesh, and the Tomb of the "Rich Man," where He was buried for three days, is a mere fifty meters. And yet, somehow, the steps to traverse that space can seem like the greatest expanse in the Universe. Tonight, dear friends, we are walking in that space.

From the Cross to the Tomb is the greatest journey of our lives. It is an odyssey which is not as simple as the straight line from Golgotha to the Aedicule in the Church of the Anastasis, commonly called in English, the Holy Sepulcher. Nor is our journey from Cross to Tomb as easy as our circumambulation tonight.

The walk that we walk tonight is to remind us that we are called to stretch every spiritual muscle in our souls, to forgive when forgiveness seems impossible, to be merciful when there is none deserving, to love in the face of hatred, intolerance, and disgust. The distances behind us, and before us, are much longer than those fifty meters in Jerusalem, or our routes around our parishes tonight. They are distances of the human heart, which can only be transcended by the Grace of the Spirit, freely given to us by the Resurrection.

May we walk these paths in the fullness of our humanity, which is redeemed and made whole by our Lord. May we be brought to life and love by His Holy Resurrection, unto the totality of our divine potential. Amen.

(Holy and Great Friday. The Crucifixion. 8th c. Mt. Sinai)

04/10/2026

Today, on Great and Holy Thursday, we listen to the narrative of the Twelve Gospels, which contain the agonizing details of our Lord's arrest, trial, and Crucifixion; and we have glorified His condescension, his Humility, and His long-suffering on behalf of us all.

Our Lord Jesus Christ ascended the Cross to make of It many things: He made of the Cross a compass, to orient our lives and to point us in the way of sacrificial love; He made of the Cross a ship's mast, by which we might book passage through our own deaths to the safe harbor of Heaven; He made of the Cross a ladder, by which we might climb, step by step, into lives of righteousness and truth, and He is there to help us on the way; He made of the Cross a bridge, by which we might pass over, following the Thief, from this world to Paradise; and He made of the Cross a pulpit, from which He preached his Last Seven Words, seven utterances, seven sermons, that call for our utmost attentiveness.

I will mention only one of these sermons, the fifth one, which, in the Greek language, is a single word: Διψῶ – I thirst. This briefest of sermons calls us to become more sensitive and compassionate to the thirst of all those around us–those who are suffering from a thirst for connection, a thirst for understanding, a thirst for forgiveness, a thirst for love.

The question for us from His simple sermon tonight is this: What thirst will you quench in those around you? Will you bring them the vinegar of bitterness, the gall of spite? Or will you soften their pain, and quench their souls that are parched from a lack of love, a lack of friendship, a lack of compassion?

(The Lord walks to His suffering. Fresco in Stavronikita Monastery, Mt. Athos.)

04/10/2026

Did you know that the Holy Eucharist has a “birthday”?

On Holy Thursday, the Church celebrates the institution of the Holy Eucharist — the “birthday” of Holy Communion — which marks the beginning of the New Covenant.

The Passover meal (also called the “Festival of Unleavened Bread”) was instituted by God through Moses. It was to commemorate, through a perpetual day of remembrance, the Angel of Death “passing over” the homes marked with the blood of the Passover lamb and the miracle of Israel “passing through” the Red Sea from Egypt to the Promised Land.

On the night Jesus was betrayed, He celebrates this Passover meal in the Upper Room in Jerusalem with His disciples. Previously, Christ — through the turning of water to wine at the wedding feast at Cana — transformed the cultural institution of marriage into a grace-giving sacrament. In the same way, Christ turns bread and wine into His body and blood, and transforms the Passover meal into the Divine Liturgy of the Holy Eucharist.

After giving thanks, Jesus breaks the bread and says: “This is my body.” In the same way, He takes the cup of wine and says: “This is my blood.” As Saint Maximos the Confessor says: “[Christ] transmits to us divine life, making Himself eatable.” And as Saint Justin Martyr says: “We call this food Eucharist.”

At the “Mystical Supper” in the Upper Room, Jesus transforms the Jewish “day of remembrance” into an ever-present memorial (“birthday”) for the Church, saying: “Do this in remembrance of me.” For “Jesus IS the Passover [Greek: πάσχειν] that is our salvation.” — Saint Melito of Sardis

• • •

→ Click for your downloadable, shareable, printable DRE 1-pager: www.goarch.org/departments/religioused/didyouknow

→ Have a question you want answered by the DRE Team for Did You Know? DM the Department of Religious Education (DRE) or email: [email protected]

DID YOU KNOW? is your go-to source for concise answers to a wide range of questions about the Greek Orthodox faith. DYK? equips Gen Z and millennials with facts they can trust and easily absorb while scrolling. Clergy, religious educators, and parents can share these nuggets of knowledge with the faithful, students, those inquiring about Orthodoxy, and loved ones.

04/10/2026

Yesterday, in the Third Bridegroom Service, we saw the Lord receiving Anointing with Holy Myrrh by the Woman immortalized by the Hymn of Saint Kassiani. It was surely an act of loving devotion, but it was also much more–it anticipated the Lord's Burial.

Fully anointed, Jesus is the source of all anointing, just as He was revealed on the Day of His Baptism as the Source of the Heavenly Chrism, when the Spirit descended upon Him in the likeness of a dove. Therefore, we receive the Holy Oil of the Unction Service for all the needs of our bodies and souls. We receive the Oil for forgiveness, because healing and salvation are very much the same. The spiritual healing that comes from receiving Unction is for eternity, because the body, even when sick and made well again, will one day suffer the fate of every living thing, but the soul is eternal.

So, I invite all of you to receive the healing Oil of Gladness this afternoon. Let your foreheads be anointed so your minds become wise. Let your hands be graced so that they perform good works. Let your mouths be filled with sweet words, that utter no evil about anyone. Thus, you shall complete this Holy Week like the Myrrh-bearers, in awe and joy, as you behold the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Unwaning Light of His Glory.

(Healing of the Blind Man, 16th century, Dionysiou Monastery, Mt. Athos, Greece)

04/10/2026

Humanity’s greatest plague was death.

Through repentance, however, Christ forgives our sins.

Death no longer has power over us. We now live in grace and truth.

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