CUTTING ST BASIL-PIE AT THE PATRIARCHATE
On the evening of Monday the 31st of December, the last day of the year 2013/13th of January 2014, the custom of cutting St Basil-pie was observed at the Hall of the Patriarchate.
His Beatitude Theophilos, our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem, led the ceremony that had as participants the Greek Consul-General to Jerusalem, Mr Georgios Zacharoudiakis and his associates, Hagiotaphite Fathers, Greeks hailing from the Greek Parish in Jerusalem, members of our Arab-speaking congregation in Jerusalem, and pilgrims.
To this distinguished guests, His Beatitude delivered an address on the dawn of the new year 2014. This is an excerpt from His address:
[…] The festive reception of the new year, which coincides with the Despotiki (of the Lord) Feast of the Circumcision of Christ, our Lord and Saviour, is calling upon us to consider our works and deeds of the past year, and exclaim alongside the wise Paul: “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3, 13-14).
It is precisely this principle, namely the movement towards a blessed life, living and behaving according to Christ, that we are called upon to set as our purpose at the beginning of the new year of Christ’s Virtue, where the domain of His eternal Kingdom will hopefully be blessed and glorified; Amen.
In Arabic, the address may be reached here: https://en.jerusalem-patriarchate.info/ar/2014/01/13/3155
The ceremony was followed by the Apolytikion of the Circumcision of Christ and the Apolytikion of St Basil, at the end of which His Beatitude proceeded to cut St Basil-pie, wishing that the New Year 2014 be favourable and peaceful. The pie was distributed among the guests, who paid their respects and reciprocated wishes for a happy new year.
During the distribution of the pie, students at the Patriarchal School chanted the New Year’s Carols. They went on to sing the Carols to Hagiotaphite Fathers and the Greek Parish, and save the contributions they were generously offered by their hosts.
From the Secretariat-General
httpv://youtu.be/jN2HfK7F938