On Saturday, February 11 / 24, 2024, His Beatitude our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos received:

1. A twenty-member group of the Turan Community of northern Israel led by their priest Fr Nektarios Raja and the Church attendants of this Community, who sought the blessing of His Beatitude and His moral and material support. His Beatitude responded to their request.
2. The Inspector of Arabic Schools of the Patriarchate in Israel and Palestinian Authority and former member of the Jordanian Parliament, Mr Yonde Kawas and Mr George Sahar, working in the department of the World Council of Churches for matters of schools and the Patriarchate’s cooperation with the World Council of Churches.
3. A group of thirty people from the youth of Kufr Yassif, a county in the north of Israel, led by their priest Fr Sabba Mahouli, the Elder and their son, who presented to His Beatitude in audio-visual material with the youth activities of their parish and expressed their gratitude. His Beatitude blessed them and strengthened them with a financial blessing.
4. A three-member group of Trustees of the Zdeide Community of Northern Israel under their Priest Fr Antonio Azini, who discussed issues of their Community and praised His Beatitude for His initiative in the solution of the Kufr Smea Community issue of northern Israel.

From Secretariat-General

On Thursday, February 9/20, 2024, H.H.B. our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos received the Bulgarian Ambassador to Israel Ms Slavena Gergova and the head diplomatic representative Mr Vesselin Delchev.

These honourable representatives of Bulgaria were informed by His Beatitude on the centuries-long and today’s multifaceted work of the Patriarchate, purely pastoral, and ecclesiastical, but also political and peaceful.

He also informed about the Synodical system of administration of the Orthodox Church and the relations between the Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Patriarchate of Bulgaria.

From Secretariat-General

On Wednesday the 8th/21st of February 2024, the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Israel and Cyprus, Mr Satybaldy Burshakov, along with his wife and a group of associates, visited the Patriarchate, as he retires from his office.

 His Excellency the Ambassador was received by our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos and Holy Sepulchre Fathers and thanked His Beatitude, for the excellent cooperation with his country in interfaith and peace issues and His visits to conferences organized in Kazakhstan. The Ambassador gave His Beatitude the highest award of his country.

  In response, His Beatitude awarded Mr Burshakov the medal of the Grand Commander of the Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre in appreciation of his cooperation and his interest in the Patriarchate, thanked him, and wished him the continuation of this cooperation for the maintenance of peace in the Holy Land and the whole world. His Beatitude also gave Mr Burshakov’s wife an excellent painting of the city of Jerusalem

  From Secretariat-General

On Tuesday, February 7/20, 2024, H.H.B. our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos received:

1. The Ambassador of Egypt in Ramallah, Mr Ihab Soliman.
2. Representation of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS).
3. A group of members of our flock from the county of Shahnin and the county of Pkea in northern Israel.

From Secretariat-General

On Tuesday, January 31/February 13, 2024, His Beatitude received:

1. The Head of the Russian Mission to Jerusalem (MISSIA) Archimandrite Vasianos for the presentation and blessing of the new Hieromonk, to serve in the Monastery of Archimandrite Tychon. His Beatitude blessed his stay and wished him a blessed ministry.
2. Later in the morning, His Beatitude held the blessing of the water in the Ecclesiastical Court of First Instance and blessed and praised its President, Archimandrite Nifon, for his work and judicial conscientiousness as well as for the renovation work in the Court building.

On February 1/14, 2024, His Beatitude received the Lutheran Bishop in Jerusalem His Eminence Sani Azar, accompanying the Head of the Church of Denmark with a small group.

His Beatitude informed them about the pilgrimage and ecclesiastical work completed by the Patriarchate in cooperation with the other Christian Churches for the maintenance of the Status Quo and the strengthening of the Christian presence in the Holy Land and in particular in Jerusalem.

From Secretariat-General

On Wednesday, January 25/February 7, 2024, His Beatitude our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem was visited by:

1. Mr Yusef Nasser and his sons in view of His Beatitude’s visit to Kufr Smea next Saturday, January 28 / February 10, 2024.
2. The priest Nektarios and the Commissioners of the Community of Pkea of the Ptolemais-Acre region, in gratitude to His Beatitude, for the provided moral and material support to them from the Patriarchate.
3. Fr Elias, Head of the Rame Community of northern Israel with his family in gratitude for the help they have received from the Patriarchate.

On Tuesday, January 24/February 6, 2024, H.H.B. our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos received the Most Reverend Metropolitan Kyril of Kazan of the Moscow Patriarchate, who was accompanied by his priests and the representative of the Russian Spiritual Mission to Jerusalem (MISSIA) Archimandrite Nikon.

In this meeting, His Beatitude presented to His Eminence the pastoral, pilgrimage and pacifying work carried out by the Patriarchate amid the ongoing and raging war in Gaza, where our Patriarchate in the Monastery of Saint Porphyrios grants asylum to 400 members of its Community under the Most Reverend Archbishop Alexios of Tiberias and Hieromonk Sila.

His Holiness Kyril informed His Beatitude about his Pastoral activity in the Holy Metropolis of Kazan and asked and received from His Beatitude the normal permission to officiate at the Holy Shrines during his stay here.

From Secretariat-General

Around noon on Monday, January 23 / February 5, 2024, H.H.B. our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos visited the Holy Monastery of the Holy Cross, the Hegoumen of which is the Elder Dragoman Archimandrite Mattheos and inspected the ongoing work under the expert conservator from Cyprus, Mr Stavros Andreou, and gave him the required instructions for housing the Centre for Theological Research, the establishment of which has been decided by the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

From Secretariat-General

The Patriarchal Representative of Acre – Ptolemais Archimandrite Fr Silouanos and the twelve ministering Priests of the jurisdiction of this Metropolis visited His Beatitude our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos on Saturday, 14th / 27th January 2024.

At this meeting, the Priests greeted His Beatitude on the occasion of Christmas and the New Year. They presented the issues of the Metropolis and their parishes, for which His Beatitude gave the appropriate instructions and awarded the office of the Cross-bearer to the Priest of Count Kufr Yassif Farah-Haralambos Farah and the Elder Savva Mahoulis, also Priest of this county and assistant priest of the county of Tarsikha.

In this connection, His Beatitude mentioned to the visiting priests the event that took place yesterday on the East Bank of the Jordan River in the celebration of the silver jubilee of the founding of the Baptism Site in the Jordan River, He referred to its excellent organization by the Jordanian Government and by the Amman Metropolis under the Archbishop Christophoros of Kyriakoupolis and also mentioned the collective participation of the people and representatives of various states.

Subsequently, His Beatitude received a representation of the Corps of Arabic-speaking Scouts living in Israel, numbering around 3,000 members and active in the Kufr Yassif commune, under their President Mr Nader Samaan, with Mr David Mansour, Mrs Esther Abumane, of Mr Jiries Yakub Gadous, Mr Nikolas Limanis and the son of the President of the Council of Acre, Mr Fuad Breck, among others.

The Scouts paid their respects to His Beatitude on Christmas and New Year’s Day and thanked Him for the help He had provided them in the past, as they mentioned in detail to Him.

The Scouts specifically referred to their relations with the Scouts of other countries, such as Jordan and Serbia, and asked for His Beatitude’s blessing to visit the Greek Scouts next summer.

His Beatitude blessed their efforts to cultivate a climate of coexistence and reconciliation and praised their action for the education of the youth.

From Secretariat-General

On the morning of Monday, January 9/22, 2024, H.H.B. our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos, went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with members of the Pilgrimage Committee and other Holy Sepulchre Fathers, High Priests, Hieromonks and monks.

There His Beatitude blessed the ongoing conservation work of the agreement of the three Major Communities and the technical supervision of the Sapientia University of Rome on the floor around the Deposition, the entrance and the Gate of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and gave the necessary instructions for its better technical success for the structural strengthening of the floor of the Church, along with the preservation of the Status Quo.

From Secretariat-General