THE FEAST OF THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD AT THE PATRIARCHATE

On this feast, the whole Church and especially the Church of Jerusalem commemorates and celebrates the event that for forty days after His Resurrection, our Lord Jesus Christ revealed Himself to His Disciples in many appearances, and after them, while the Disciples were watching, He ascended from the Mount of Olives into the Heavens and sat at the right side of the Father and deified the human bodily form He had received at His incarnation. 

For this Feast at the Mount of Olives and the place of the Ascension the Great Vespers was held on Wednesday afternoon, by His Eminence Metropolitan Isychios of Kapitolias, along with the Elder Kamarasis Archimandrite Nectarios, Archimandrite Klaudios, the Priests of Saint James Cathedral Fr Farah and Fr Hader, at the chanting of Hierodeacon Simeon, Mr Gotsopoulos and the Patriarchal School students in Greek and Saint James Cathedral Choir under Mr Rimon Kamar in Arabic. 

The service was followed by a procession to the Monastery of the Men of Galillee, which His Beatitude blessed with His visit there.

The procession returned to the place of the Ascension for the reading of the Compline and the Canon of the Feast.

On Thursday morning, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated at the same place, by His Eminence Metropolitan Isychios of Kapitolias, along with the Archimandrites Ieronymos and Stephen, the Priests of Saint James Cathedral, Romanian and Russian Priests and the visiting from the Church of Greece Fr Agathangelos from the H. Metropolis Kilkisiou. The chanting was delivered by Hierodeacon Simeon, Mr Gotsopoulos and the Patriarchal School students in Greek and Saint James Cathedral Choir under Mr Rimon Kamar in Arabic, and the service was attended by many faithful Christians.

During the Divine Liturgy His Beatitude and Members of the Holy Synod came for veneration. Then His Beatitude, according to the custom and for the sake of the peaceful coexistence, visited the imam that lives in the nearby mosque, followed by the visit to the Holy Monastery of the Ascension opposite the shrine, where the hardworking Caretaker of the Monastery Monk Achilios hosted a reception. 

The next visit of His Beatitude was to the Holy Monastery of the Ascension of the Russian Church and Diaspora on the Mount of Olives and finally the Monastery of the Men of Galillee, where the Caretaker Nun Daniilia offered breakfast with eggs, milk and cheese.

From Secretariat-General