WORSHIP and prayers for the Easter weekend at York Minster will be entirely digital for the first time this year – a landmark in the Minster’s 800 year history.

A series of audio services will be released to mark some of the most important days, including Good Friday, Easter Eve and Easter Day.

The mini-services, lasting around 15-20 minutes, will include readings, prayers and music recorded by the York Minster Choir both in late March and on earlier CDs, and a special video message from the Dean of York, Dr Jonathan Frost, for Easter Day.

For those able to get online, many local churches are offering a variety of online services of prayer and worship, according to the abilities of the members of that church and the facilities and talents they can call on.

The Diocese of York has a list of links to churches offering online worship at www.dioceseofyork.org/onlineworship.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Middlesbrough Catholic Diocese said that York churches have seen a dramatic rise in people attending services, thanks to the online accessiblity.

He added that English Martyrs' will be broadcasting services on youtube, as will St Wilfred’s Catholic Church.

Meanwhile, Our Lady’s Catholic Church in Acomb will be broadcasting services on its Facebook page.

The Church of England is also broadcasting services Facebook.