THE FEAST OF ST. GERASIMOS OF THE JORDAN AT THE PATRIARCHATE

On Tuesday, March 4/17, 2020, the Patriarchate celebrated the feast of our Holy Father Gerasimos of the Jordan at the Holy Monastery bearing his name, which is located on the west bank of the river Jordan before its outcrop in the Dead Sea.

On this feast the Church commemorates St. Gerasimos who came to the Holy Land from his hometown Lycia and lived here in ascesis. He was led astray for a while by the followers of Monophysitism in the mid-fifth century (451 A.D.), the year of the 4^th Ecumenical Synod, but returned to Orthodoxy by St. Euthymius the Great and founded this Monastery, which is known with the name “Kalamonos”. St. Gerasimos led many faithful and monks in the Orthodox faith of Christ our God in one hypostasis with two natures, the divine and the human, and he became a luminary of Orthodoxy, well known for his lion-pet as depicted also in his icon of St. Constantine of the 10^th century.

For this feast a night vigil was held with the Divine Liturgy on Monday night to Tuesday, by the energetic, hardworking and hospitable Hegoumen Archimandrite Chrysostom, with co-celebrant the Hegoumen of the H. Monastery of Prophet Elisha, Archimandrite Philoumenos. Few faithful attended the service due the protective measures against the transmission of COVID-19 virus, and they all prayed wholeheartedly to God for the protection of humanity from this outbreak.

From Secretariat-General