From Diocese of Sourozh
20th June 2007
On 17th June, the Sunday of All Saints of Britain and Ireland, a group of pilgrims from the Diocese of Sourozh headed by Bishop Elisey of Bogorodsk departed for Holy Land.
The pilgrims arrived in the Holy City of Jerusalem in the early morning on 18th June and made their way to the Gornensky Convent of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission. In the monastery church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, the Abbess, Mother Georgia, and all the sisters greeted Vladyka Elisey together with the pilgrims from London and Dublin with warmth and hospitality.
After breakfast, the pilgrims made their way to the Trinity Cathedral of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission, where Bishop Elisey presided over the celebration of the traditional moleben before commencing a pilgrimage. Bishop Elisey greeted the head of the Mission, Archimandrite Tikhon and presented him with a gift of a watercolour of the Russian monastery painted by a London Cathedral parishioner.
After the moleben, the pilgrims venerated the cave of Bethlehem, the birthplace of the Saviour. After their visit to Bethlehem, the pilgrims processed along the Way of the Cross of the Saviour, from Lithostrton (The Pavement) and Praetoria to Golgotha and the Tomb the Lord.
During the night of 19th June, Bishop Elisey took part in the celebration of the Divine Liturgy in the Holy Sepulchre. After the Liturgy, the pilgrims attended a panikhida served before the Kouvouklion at the Holy Sepulchre, praying for eternal rest with the righteous to be granted to the ever-memorable Metropolitan Anthony whose birthday fell on that very day.
In the morning, Bishop Elisey together with the pilgrims and accompanied by Archimnadrite Tikhon, the head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission were received by His Beautitude Theophilos, Patriarch of Jerusalem and All Palestine. The Patriarch who had spent some time as a student in Britain (Durham)was warm in his reception and the conversation proceeded in a brotherly fashion. Bishop Elisey presented the Patriarch a ainting of a Russian church executed by a London parishioner.
After receiving the patriarch’s blessing to continue their journey, the pilgrims visited Gesthemane, where they venerated the tomb of the Mother of God. At the Russian Orthodox convent of St Mary Magdalene, they prayed before the relics of the holy martyr Great duchess Elizabeth, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria and also in the church crypt, the final resting place of Princess Alice, another of Victoria’s grandchildren.
On the same day, the pilgrims venerated the place of the Ascension of the Lord and prayed at the Eleon Russian Orthodox convent . On Wednesday 20 June, the pilgrims travelled to the Judean desert in order to visit the holy places and monastic settlements within Jericho and its environs.
After the Judean desert, in the second part of the pilgrimage, the pilgrims will travel to Galilee, the Tiberian lake and river Jordan.
To be continued…
