On Thursday April 25, 2019, in the Patriarchal Church in the Phanar, the Ecumenical Patriarch celebrated the Service of the Holy Passion of the Lord.
In accord with tradition, the Ecumenical Patriarch read the first of the 12 readings from the Gospel; then followed the concelebrating hierarchs, Metropolitans Konstantinos, Geron of Nikaia; Meliton of Philadelphia; Chrysostomos of Myra; Theoleptos of Iconium; Stephanos of Kallioupolis and Madytos; Epidophoros of Bursa; Athenagoras of Kydonia; Amphilochios of Adrianople; and the Archbishop Job of Telmessos; the Protosyncellos Andreas; and the Archdeacon Theodoros.
The Patriarchal Church and the entire Ecumenical Patriarchate were enveloped in darkness during the procession of the Crucifix, with the emotion of everyone at a peak.
The President of the New Democracy party, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, was present with his wife and daughter, as well as the Ambassador of Greece in Ankara, Petros Mavroidis, with his wife; the Consul General of Greece in Istanbul, Georgia Sultanopoulou; official Archons and a multitude of believers from the City and abroad.
Upon arrival, the President of New Democracy, his wife Mareva Grabowski-Mitsotakis and their daughter Daphne stood in meditation before the closed gate of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the site of the hanging of the Ecumenical Patriarch Gregory V. Honoring his memory, Daphne Mitsotakis offered a bouquet of spring flowers.