THE FEΑSTS OF THE CIRCUMCISION OF CHRIST AND OF SAINT BASIL THE GREAT AT THE PATRIARCHATE

At 1:00 am in the early morning on Saturday, January 1/14, 2023, the Despotic feast of the Circumcision of the Lord and the commemoration of our Holy Father Basil the Great began in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

In the beginning, Matins was held in psalms of the divinely inspired contrite theological Kathismata and the Canons, iambic and rhythmic of the Megalynaria of the 9th Ode and the Praises and the Doxology.

After this, the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great began in the Holy Sepulchre, officiated by H.H.B. our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos, with the co-celebration of their Eminences, the Metropolitan Isychios of Kapitolias and the Archbishops, Aristarchos of Constantina and Theodosios of Sebastia, along with Hagiotaphite Hieromonks and Priests from other Orthodox Churches. The chanting was delivered by Hierodeacon Simeon and Mr Vasilios Gotsopoulos, as the service was attended by the Consul General of Greece in Jerusalem Mr Evangelos Vlioras, monks, nuns and many pilgrims.

After the Dismissal of the Divine Liturgy, a litany took place around the Holy Sepulchre and the shrines, carrying the relic of the right hand of Saint Basil the Great.

In the end, His Beatitude cut the Vasilopita in the Office of the Elder Sacristan, he also cut another cake in the morning at seven o’clock in the Commissary,  and a third one during lunch at the refectory of the Patriarchate.

From Secretariat-General