HIS BEATITUDE OFFICIATES ON MOUNT SARANTARION
On Sunday, the 19th of January/1st of February 2015, the Patriarch of Jerusalem officiated at the Holy Monastery of Mount Sarantarion.
Mount Sarantarion, overlooking the west of the ancient town of Jericho, is the Mount where the Lord came, guided by the Holy Spirit, after His baptismal in the Jordan, to pray and fast for forty days. There, He was tempted by the devil and overcame the temptation to turn stones into bread, to throw Himself from the temple, and to worship the devil in exchange for every power in the world. To these temptations, the Lord answered, respectively: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”; “Do not put the Lord your God to the test”; and “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only”.
On this site where Christ conquered temptation, the Patriarchate maintains a Monastery that is carved into the rock.
Patriarch Theophilos led the divine Liturgy on the aforementioned day, with co-officiating Primates, Hagiotaphite Hieromonks, Archdeacon Evlogios, deacon Anastasios and other Fathers of the Patriarchate. The hegoumen of the Monastery of Hozeva, f. Constantinos, sang with Patriarchal School students in the presence of locals and pilgrims alike.
On the conclusion of mass, the hegoumen, Archimandrite Gerasimos, hosted guests to a reception in his quarters.
From the Secretariat-General
httpv://youtu.be/2JMvF4Q7OH0