LOCAL GREEK ORTHODOX PARISH TO CELEBRATE
ORTHODOX EASTER
GREEK ORTHODOX REGIONAL HIERARCH TO VISIT
SIOUX CITY
SIOUX CITY, IOWA: Bishop Demetrios of Mokissos, Chancellor of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago, visited Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Sioux City on Saturday, April 15, to celebrate Orthodox Easter services. Eastern Orthodox observe Easter, or Pascha (literally, “Passover”), as the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ this year on Sunday, April 16.
Coming at the conclusion of Holy Week and following Good Friday’s remembrance of the Crucifixion, death and burial of Christ, the Holy Saturday morning service is the beginning of the Paschal vigil, a series of services that extend through Sunday evening. The Vespers and Eucharist of Holy Saturday morning to be celebrated in Sioux City were, in fact, once celebrated after sundown, the traditional beginning of the new day in Church tradition. It is a joyful ceremony originally designed for baptisms of new adherents of the faith who began their new life on the day the Church celebrated the new life of Resurrection. The service was later moved to the morning to allow preparation for the elaborate ceremonies held later in the night and early Sunday morning
Bishop Demetrios of Mokissos serves as the Chancellor of the Metropolis of Chicago, under the leadership of Metropolitan Iakovos of Chicago. In his position, he travels throughout the Metropolis of Chicago to visit most of the parishes annually. He has received nationwide recognition for his human rights activities and interfaith outreach, including his leadership in ending the death penalty in Illinois, state resolutions calling for Religious Freedom for the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, and just recently last year official recognition by the United States of the Genocide by ISIS against the Christian minority population of Syria and Iraq.
Eastern Orthodox Christians are the second largest Christian denomination worldwide. The Metropolis of Chicago oversees all Greek Orthodox Parishes within Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, as well as large portions of Missouri and Indiana. You can find more information on His Grace Bishop Demetrios and the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago on our website: www.chicago.goarch.org.
