The Second Sunday of Holy Pascha, the Sunday of Holy Apostle Thomas, His Eminence Vladimir, Metropolitan of Chisinau and all Moldova, officiated the Divine Liturgy in the Nativity of the Lord Cathedral in Chisinau.
Assisting the hierarch was Archpriest Vadim Cheibas, Metropolitan Secretary and Cathedral Dean, and the priests and deacons of the holy shrine.
Numerous church-goers participated in the Divine Liturgy, uttering prayers for peace and for the commemoration of the reposed.
The Orthodox Church commemorates Apostle Thomas on the Sunday after the Feast of the Resurrection of the Lord. The Gospel Reading describes the Lord entering through the locked doors into the chamber where the disciples had gathered, and greeting them with the words Peace be to you! When told about this, Apostle Thomas, absent at this moment, doubts that his friends had seen the Risen Christ. He says that he won’t believe it unless he sees the signs of the wounds on His body. However, on the eighth day, also on Sunday, when Lord Jesus visits the apostles again, St. Thomas exclaims: My Lord and my God! (John 20: 19-31).
After the Divine Liturgy, archpriest Vadim Cheibas delivered a message of pastoral teaching on the Gospel Reading, calling the church-goers commemorate the reposed ones in the spirit of Christian virtues, with acts of charity, instead of heathen feasts.
Synodal Sector of Institutional Communication and Mass-Media Relations