On April 14, 2023, on the morning of Great Friday, the rector of St. Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral in New York, Archpriest Igor Vyzhanov, celebrated the Royal Hours.
In the afternoon, Vespers of Great Friday was celebrated by the assembled clergy. At the end of the service, during the singing of the troparion “The noble Joseph, taking down Thy most pure Body from the Tree,” the Holy Shroud bearing the image of the entombed Christ was carried from the altar to the center of the church, after which the cathedral clergy read the Canon of the Lamentation of the Most Holy Theotokos.
On the evening before Great Saturday, Matins with the Rite of Burial of the Shroud was celebrated.
After the singing of the Great Doxology, the clergy carried the Holy Shroud in procession through the cathedral, after which all the parishioners, according to pious custom, were able to pass beneath it.
On April 15, Great Saturday, the Hours, the Typika, Vespers with the reading of 15 Old Testament lessons and the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great were celebrated.
During the singing of the verses of Psalm 81, the clergy changed from black into white vestments.
At the end of the service, the clergy congratulated those gathered on the approaching Feast of Holy Pascha and blessed the Paschal foods.