After beautiful days of deep prayer throughout Holy Week, we were preparing for the great Paschal joy… but a trial came upon us: our dear priest, Fr Emmanuel, fell ill on the morning of Great Saturday and was unable to celebrate the Paschal Liturgy. But the Lord does not abandon His people: our bishop, Bishop Symeon, left his monastery for an indefinite period and came to our aid to celebrate the services planned for that day.
Before the start of the Paschal celebration, we had the joy of welcoming a new sister into the Orthodox Church, Anita, who received the holy sacrament of Chrismation at the hands of our Bishop. The service of the lifting of the Epitaphios took place in darkness; then the bishop lit his trikirion and each of the faithful came forward with his or her candle to light it. We went in procession to the church forecourt: the closed doors had been decorated with the red letters XB. There, Bishop Symeon proclaimed the Resurrection of the Lord with strength and joy.
The Liturgy that followed was vibrant, prayed in many languages — French, Arabic, Russian, Romanian, Georgian, German, Spanish, Serbian… — reflecting the diversity of our community and the universality of the Good News: death is vanquished, Life triumphs, Christ is risen!
We give thanks for all these moments lived in prayer and fraternity, and express our deep gratitude to Bishop Symeon, who did not want our community to be deprived of the Paschal feast and chose to travel urgently to Angers. A very big thank-you also to our Catholic friends who welcome us so generously at the Brisepotière chapel. In this bright season of Pascha, we are happy to proclaim together in different languages: Χριστὸς ἀνέστη! Христос воскресе! Christ is risen…
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