PARIS – Metropolitan Emmanuel of France chanted the service of the Akathist Hymn behind closed doors on the Fifth Friday of Great Lent on April 3 at the Cathedral of Saint Stephen in Paris.

France is still in a state of emergency and has imposed severe restrictions on its citizens. Unfortunately, there are thousands of new cases and hundreds of deaths from the coronavirus pandemic every day, as Metropolitan Emmanuel stated in his exclusive interview in last week’s edition of TNH.

The Metropolitan Emmanuel once again prayed in front of the holy icon of the Theotokos and prayed to her to deliver humanity from this terrible evil of the virus that daily costs the lives of thousands of people around the world.