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Reem Chamoun – Charbel Hanno<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n On Sunday, the Christian churches in Qamishli, northeastern Syria, which adopt the Western calendar for Palm Sunday, celebrated the feast in the presence of the priest and a limited number of deacons (church servants), without worshippers as a preventative measure to avoid the spread of coronavirus.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n According to Christian beliefs, Palm Sunday is the seventh Sunday of the final fast before Easter (Resurrection Sunday), and the week immediately preceding Easter is called the "Holy Week".<\/p>\n This day marks the anniversary of Jesus entering Jerusalem, and olive branches are used in churches to celebrate this holiday. It symbolizes the world receiving Jesus with olive branches celebrating his entry into Jerusalem.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This year, the Armenian Orthodox and Armenian Catholics, Syriac Catholics, the Chaldeans, and the Presbyterian National Evangelical Church celebrated Palm Sunday in the al-Jazira region. <\/p>\n Levon Yagyayan, archbishop of the Armenian Orthodox Church in al-Jazira region, told North-Press: "Today prayers were held as usual in the city's churches but without worshippers, only priests and a limited number of deacons, to avoid the spread of coronavirus."<\/p>\n <\/p>\n "The Armenian Orthodox Church broadcasts the Divine Liturgy prayer on the occasion of the upcoming holidays and during the quarantine period on the church's social media to avoid gatherings that may take place in the church," he added.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Today, cars belonging to the Armenian Orthodox Church roamed the neighborhoods of the city of Qamishli after the end of the Palm Sunday prayer, which was broadcast through loudspeakers, and the cars were decorated with olive branches to celebrate the holiday and to share the celebration with the people in their homes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Syriac Orthodox Church took several measures to avoid the spread of the coronavirus epidemic, as it completely prevented meetings and activities related to it. Earlier, the church celebrated the "Annunciation" holiday on March 25th, in the presence of the priest and a limited number of deacons only, without the presence of worshippers, and rituals were broadcast through social media to prevent gatherings.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Furthermore, the church also issued several decisions, including the cancellation of all related meetings and ceremonies, the suspension of prayers and liturgy in the churches, and the limitation of funerals to the parish priests and the deceased's family to prevent the threat posed by coronavirus.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Qamishli – North-Press Agency Reem Chamoun – Charbel Hanno On Sunday, the Christian churches in Qamishli, northeastern Syria, which adopt the Western calendar for Palm Sunday, celebrated the feast in the presence of the priest and a limited number of deacons (church servants), without worshippers as a preventative measure to avoid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39125,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-syria"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/admin\/upload\/214579316.jpg\")
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