THE TRANSFIGURATION OF THE SAVIOUR CELEBRATED AT THE PATRIARCHATE
On Monday the 6th/19th of August 2013, the feast of the Transfiguration of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was celebrated on Mount Tabor in remembrance of the extraordinary and sublime event which came to pass in glory and brilliance within a luminous cloud as the Father said from the heavens: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 17, 5) and in the presence of prophets Moses and Elijah – the revelation and manifestation of the divine nature of the Lord, His human nature briefly concealed before the eminent disciples Peter and James and John.
The event, celebrated by the Church as one of the feast’s of the Lord, was honoured on the very site where it took place and also at the adjacent Holy Monastery during a nocturnal Divine Liturgy out of doors, His Beatitude Theophilos, our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem, officiating. Co-officiating were the Most Reverend Timotheos, Metropolitan of Bostroi and Patriarchal representative in Cyprus; the Elder Chancellor, His Eminence Aristarchos, Archbishop of Constantina; Hieromonks of the Holy Sepulcher, and Presbyters of the Arab-speaking Communities of the Patriarchate from towns lying in the vicinity of Mount Tabor, amidst the pious sound of Byzantine chants sung in Arabic by a choir conducted by the Hegoumen of Accra-Ptolemais, Archimandrite f. Philotheos; and in Greek by Presbyter f. Georgios of the Church of Greece. A great crowd participated reverently, of faithful pilgrims from Greece, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Romania and Cyprus.
After the Divine Liturgy, the Hegoumen of the Holy Monastery, Archimandrite Hilarion, hosted the Patriarchal retinue and offered them rest at the Monastery’s guesthouses.
On the morning of the feast, the Divine Liturgy was held inside the Church, the Most Reverend Kyriakos, Metropolitan of Nazareth officiating. Co-officiating were Hieromonks of the Holy Sepulcher and Arab-speaking Presbyters in the presence of a great crowd from the Northern Communities of the Patriarchate.
At noon, the Hegoumen Archimandrite Hilarion hosted His Beatitude, who spent the night in Tabor, for lunch, as well as the Most Reverend Metropolitan of Nazareth, their retinues and pilgrims.
For the feast of the Transfiguration, the Divine Liturgy was held at the Tomb of the Virgin Mary in Gethsemane, His Eminence Dorotheos, Archbishop of Avila officiating, and at the Holy Monastery of the Transfiguration of the Saviour in Ramallah, His Eminence Philoumenos, Archbishop of Pella and Patriarchal Commissioner in Irbet, Jordan, officiating.
From the Secretariat-General
httpv://youtu.be/FiPbAb88AxE