Orthodox Easter was celebrated this year in Cyprus with people confined in their homes, due to restrictive measures in place to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

As church services, usually attended by thousands of people, remained closed to the public this year, many people took to their balconies and front yards to pray and chant “Christ is risen”.

In his Easter circular, Archbishop Chrysostomos II of Cyprus said that the inability to take part in church services should strengthen people’s faith and prayers, in order to tackle the virus and be able to celebrate soon all together again.

Before the service on Easter Saturday, Archbishop Chrysostomos II also announced that he received the Holy Light, which arrived in Cyprus from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in Jerusalem. He invited priests to light their church lamps with the Holy Light and said that it will be possible to distribute it among the faithful once restrictions are lifted.

The Holly Light, which arrived earlier on board a private flight, was received by Metropolitan of Vostron Timotheos, Exarch of the Holy Sepulchre in Cyprus, at Larnaca airport.