On the Feast of the Resurrection of Christ, the Vicar led the divine service at the Miami Cathedral

On April 12, 2026, the entire fullness of the Orthodox Church joyfully celebrated the main feast of the year — the Bright Resurrection of Christ, the Holy Pascha of the Lord.

Shortly before midnight, a Cross Procession took place around the Cathedral of St. Matrona in Miami, followed by the Paschal Matins and the Divine Liturgy. The services were led by the rector of the Miami Cathedral, Vicar of the Slavic Vicariate, Archimandrite Alexander Belya, the Bishop elect of Nicopolis, together with the concelebrating clergy — Archpriests Ivan Zeikan and Maksim Pliskou.

At the end of Paschal Matins, the Catechetical Homily of St. John Chrysostom for Holy Pascha was read. Also, during the service, the Paschal Address from the vicar, Archimandrite Alexander, was delivered to the clergy, monastics, and laity.

Following a long-standing tradition, the Gospel reading for Pascha was proclaimed in eight languages: Church Slavonic, Greek, English, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Russian, Hebrew, and Latin. This multilingual reading of the Gospel symbolizes the preaching of the Christian faith throughout the whole world.

At the end of the Liturgy, Archimandrite Alexander congratulated the clergy, altar servers, choir members, parishioners, and guests of the cathedral on the feast of Pascha. Fr. Alexander expressed his wish that every person, through a life in Christ Jesus, might be deemed worthy of the Resurrection at the Heavenly Pascha — eternal joy in God.

Archimandrite Alexander also shared joyful news and drew the attention of the faithful to the renovated and unique faience iconostasis of the Miami Cathedral. Just before Pascha, a container arrived containing the majority of the icons for the iconostasis. As of today, approximately 80% of the icons have been installed. They are painted in the canonical style. We hope that, with God’s help, the remaining icons will be completed and delivered by the end of summer.

After the Liturgy, Archimandrite Alexander blessed the artos and the Paschal baskets of the parishioners.

A great number of believers from Florida’s multinational community gathered for the Paschal service at the Cathedral of St. Matrona in Miami. The atmosphere was truly warm and familial — people embraced one another and greeted each other with the traditional Paschal greeting: “Christ is Risen!” — “Truly He is Risen!”