On Holy Monday morning, following the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew entered the Holy Kouvouklion adjacent to the Patriarchal Church of St. George at the Phanar in the presence of the Hierarchs, the Patriarchal Court, and the faithful, and blessed the beginning of the services for the Sanctification of the Holy Myrrh with an Agiasmo. He then sprinkled with holy water the boilers, the material and the utensils ready to be used, and after the special prayers for the preparation of the Holy Myrrh, he poured into the boilers a quantity of oil, wine, perfumes and flowers.
Holding a lit trikero, His All Holiness ignited pieces of old and destroyed holy icons, unusable ecclesiastical books, old pieces of wood church fixtures.
Continuing, the Patriarch read the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. Other hierarchs, clergy of the Patriarchal Court and other priests went on with the New Testament readings.
Later in the afternoon, Patriarch Bartholomew presided over the Matins of Great and Holy Tuesday (The Service of the Bridegroom).
