CELEBRATING THE SUNDAY OF THE SAMARITAN WOMAN AT THE PATRIARCHATE
The Patriarchate celebrated the feast of the Samaritan Woman on Sunday the 20th of May/ 2nd of June 2013, at the pilgrimage site of Jacob’s Well.
On the word of the Old Testament and the Gospel of John in the New Testament (Jn, 4, 1-38), the Well was dug in the land of Samaria by Jacob the patriarch between the mountains Yeval and Yoresin.
At this precise Well did the Samaritan woman, who arrived here from the town of Sychar in order to draw water, came upon the Lord who, as by fishing, initiated her into Himself as Christ and changed her life so that she would depart from sin and receive holiness and this very testimony. Indeed, she is commemorated within the cycle of movable feasts on the fourth Sunday after Easter.
It is in this Pilgrimage site that, in the course of our days, the neomartyr St Philoumen of the Holy Sepulcher died a martyric death. The site has been laudably exalted since a few years by its Hegoumen, the Archimandrite father Ioustinos by means of the construction of a magnificent Church, an ornament to the city of Neapolis. Here, on the aforementioned day, His Beatitude Theophilos, Our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem, officiated the divine liturgy together with Patriarchal Vicar, Esychios, the Right Reverend Metropolitan of Kapitolias; His Eminence Aristarchos, the Archbishop of Constantina and Grand Chancellor; His Eminence Damaskinos, the Archbishop of Ioppi; His Eminence Theophylaktos, the Archbishop of Iordanis; his Eminence Philoumenos, the Archbishop of Pella; Hieromonks of the Holy Sepulcher and Priests of major parishes from townships adjoining Neapolis, such as Raphidia, Toumba and Zampapde, in the presence of the faithful who had reached Neapolis from adjoining towns.
During the Koinonikon of the Divine Liturgy, His Beatitude proclaimed to everyone the word of God in the Greek language.
This is an excerpt from His speech:
Today, on the fifth Sunday after Easter, the Church of Christ celebrates the feast of the Samaritan woman in this very site where also lies the Well of Jacob the Patriarch.
This site is of special importance, for it is not only a historical and sacred one, but also a site evangelizing the testimony of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that God is a spirit and those that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth (Jn 4, 24). In addition, the spiritual well built upon the actual Jacob’s well, namely the holy Altar of this splendid Church in honour of St Photini, the Samaritan Woman, attests to the Word of our Savior Christ to the Samaritan Woman and to any man with a thirst for the salvaging truth, that: “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (Jn 4, 13-14).
The Divine Liturgy was followed by a litany thrice around the Holy Church.
After the litany, the proprietor and hegoumen, Archimandrite f. Ioustinos, hosted a festive meal for His Beatitude, His Retinue and scores of people.
From the Secretariat- General
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