ROCKSLIDE AT THE HOLY HOTZEVA – WADI KELT MONASTERY
On Tuesday, 16th/29th of December 2009, at around 23:00 a detached section of rock from the adjacent hillside fell on the roof of the Holy Monastery of Saints George and John of Hotzeva (Wadi –Kelt) in front of the entrance of the Chapel named in honor of Prophet Elias.
The fallen boulder caused the apses, in front of the chapel, to collapse and caused its roof to crack. The fragments of the boulder and the rubble from the church accumulated to the right of the courtyard as one enters the church.
Thanks be to God, at that time, no-one was present in the area where the boulder fell, as there would have been human fatalities, whereas now there is only structural damage to the buildings.
On Thursday, 18th/31st of December 2009, His Beatitude Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III went to the Holy Hotzeva (Wadi Kelt) Monastery. This was the last day of the year 2009 and the day after the unfortunate incidents caused by the Armenians during the cleaning of the Basilica of the Nativity Church in Bethlehem, which fortunately had a successful conclusion for the Orthodox. His Beatitude was escorted to the Holy Hotzeva Monastery by the Elder Chief Secretary His Eminence Aristarchos Archbishop of Constantina, His Eminence Dorotheos Archbishop of Avila, the Archdeacon Fr. Athanasios and Deacon Filoumenos. His Beatitude venerated and then surveyed the resulting damage and discussed means of the buildings’ restoration with the Superior of the Holy Monastery of St. Gerasimos and acting Superior of the Holy Hotzeva Monastery Rev. Archimandrite Chrysostomos, who was escorted with a small number of monks and volunteer supporters, whose morale was heartened by the Paternal words of His Beatitude.
Chief Secretary’s Office
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