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As the annual Chrism Eucharist held in the Cathedral and attended by clergy from across our Diocese could not take place this year, Bishop Nicholas filmed a special version of the Maundy Thursday Service in his chapel at his home in South Canonry, and invited clergy and their congregations to join him.

It gathered nearly 3,000 views on YouTube in the first 24 hours, more than 3 times the previous record, held by the announcement of the Bishop's arrival in our Diocese. And after 2 weeks it was still popular, becoming the third-highest viewed video on our channel.

The many comments on the video and via email include:

"Thank you Bishop Nicholas and all the team for an uplifting service at this challenging time. We were together in Spirit."

"Very emotional a real sense of unity. 'We are one body, because we all share in the one bread'. Thank you."

"I suspect huge effort went into putting all this together. It means a great deal. Thank you so much."

View the video here.

Meanwhile Bishop Karen's Easter Sermon proved a huge hit on social media. It reached over 1,800 people on Facebook, with lots of shares and positive comments, such as:

"Thank you +Karen for connecting life lived now and hope fulfilled in Christ."

"Thank you for this today. A real blessing."

"So helpful to read and digest this at leisure."

You can read the Bishop's sermon on our website, here.

Bishop Karen's prayers, issued via Facebook, gather 100s of views each time, as do Bishop Andrew's posts of his reflections.

Bishop Andrew's 'Going to Ground' series has also gone down well on YouTube, with over 5,000 combined views for his 33 videos to date.

Comments include:

"Wonderful. Thank-you for that beautiful insight."

"+Andrew you continue to surprise. Every morning something very different to meditate on. Thank you."

"I have appreciated Going to ground so much- the ‘informality’ of it, the close association to creation and the arts have reached a depth way beyond formal settings - for me anyway. Thank you and take care."

Browse the series here.

On Easter Day, Bishop Nicholas was on the front page of the Sunday Telegraph, reminding the nation as well as our Diocese of the significance of Easter.

The picture depicted the first part of a pre-recorded Easter Day Service streamed by the Cathedral.

Bishop Nicholas was pictured lighting the Paschal Candle which symbolises the light of Christ coming into the world, the new light of the resurrected Christ, from an Easter Fire. This highly symbolic act was mirrored in gardens and churchyards across our Diocese.

Paschal Candles would normally be carried into darkened churches or cathedrals at the start of the Easter celebrations, but instead they will be brought back in to our churches and cathedrals once they re-open.

The term Paschal comes from the Latin word Pascha, which came from the Hebrew word Pesach, which in Hebrew means 'Passover', and relates to the Paschal mystery of salvation. This candle is traditionally the one from which all other lights are taken for the Easter service and, for congregations that use a Paschal Candle, it is also the largest candle in the worship space.

You can view the service here and read Bishop Nicholas’ sermon here.