Celebrated on Saturday by Catholics all over the world, Easter was celebrated enthusiastically by Catholics from Iskenderun. The members of the congregation, who entered the church with candles symbolizing the “Light of Jesus”, illuminated the dark interior of the church.
The Easter Feast, which commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, was celebrated with a magnificent ceremony held at the Annunciation Latin Catholic Church in Iskenderun. Paolo Bizzeti, the apostolic vicar and Bishop of Anatolia, conducted the service in the Iskenderun Cathedral. Church Father Dariusz Dogondke also accompanied Bizzeti.
The Holy Easter Mass began with a ceremony around the fire in the churchyard. After the ceremony in the garden, where the Easter Candle was lit with the fire symbolizing the ‘Light of Christ’, Monsignor Bizzeti and all the congregation members led by priests, took a short tour of the garden and entered the church together. The church, which was dark, was lightened with candles in the hands of those who attended the service.
In the ongoing ritual in the church; Prayers were said for Easter to bring peace to the whole world, to keep people away from wrong thoughts, diseases and evils, to heal the sick, and to bring refugees away from their homes to their homes.
Anatolian Apostolic Vicar and Bishop Paolo Bizzeti, who also gave a sermon at the service, talked about the unconditional love of God and Jesus Christ.
A cocktail was also given in the church hall at the end of the service, where prayers were said, hymns were sung, and Holy Communion was distributed. (SAT-7 Turk/İlyas Edip TERBİYELİ-İskenderun)
