SECOND DAY OF PATRIARCHATE’S PARTICIPATION IN 1025th ANNIVERSARY OF RUSSIAN CHURCH
On Tuesday the 10th/23rd of July 2013, His Beatitude Theophilos, Our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem, with His retinue of members of the Holy Sepulcher and the Very Reverend f. Stephanos, Patriarchal Commissioner in Moscow, visited His Beatitude the Patriarch of Moscow and all-Russian at his Patriarchal and Synodic residence, namely “Danilovskaya”.
There, the Patriarch of Jerusalem was given a reception worthy of his position, followed by an exchange of brotherly wishes and a discussion of bilateral issues of concern to the two Churches, focusing on All-holy sites of pilgrimage and the situation of Christians in the Middle East.
Subsequently, His Beatitude the Patriarch of Moscow conferred upon His Beatitude the Patriarch of Jerusalem the Russian medal of glory and honour. Members of the retinue of the Patriarch of Jerusalem were decorated with the medal of the late Metropolitan of Moscow, Alexios, who had lived in the 14th century before the Church of Russia was declared a Patriarchate.
After the decoration, His Beatitude the Patriarch of Moscow offered His Beatitude the Patriarch of Jerusalem a pair of engolpiya (small icons), a patriarchal scepter, a stole and a pallium. Prelates from the retinue were each offered a prelatic scepter together with a stole and a pallium. Other members received Patriarchal blessings.
Then, His Beatitude the Patriarch of Jerusalem and His retinue visited the Holy Pilgrimage site of Hosia Matrona of Moscow ((† 1952) in Moscow.
In this site, at the chapel of the Holy Skepe, the Hosia’s sacred relics are kept. The veneration of the holy relics and a supplication were followed by veneration in the adjacent Church of the inauguration of the Church of the Resurrection, where His Beatitude was received and welcomed by Mother Superior Theophania, to whom His Beatitude replied with blessings.
At noon His Beatitude visited the Dependency of the Holy Sepulcher in Moscow, where the Hegoumen and Patriarchal Commissioner, Archimandrite f. Stephanos gave a warm reception and held an opulent lunch with the participation of the Greek Ambassador to Moscow, Ms Magdalene Koumanoudi, and the Consul-General.
From the Secretariat-General
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