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THE PATRIARCHATE’S PASCHAL VISIT TO THE ARMENIAN PATRIARCHATE

On Easter Wednesday, the 2nd/15th of April 2015, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem reciprocated the visit of the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem.

His Beatitude Theophilos, Patriarch of Jerusalem, led a delegation of Hagiotaphite Fathers.

The Patriarchal Hagiotaphites were welcomed by the Armenian Patriarch, Nourhan Manougian, in the presence of Armenian Primates and Priests.

During the visit, Patriarch Theophilos addressed the Armenian Patriarch and His retinue in English, see link: https://en.jerusalem-patriarchate.info/2015/04/15/13873

From the Secretariat-General




HIS BEATITUDE THEOPHILOS III PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM PASCHAL GREETINGS TO THE ARMENIAN COMMUNITY.

15 April 2015

 

Your Beatitude, Patriarch Nourhan,

Your Eminences,

Your Graces,

Reverend Fathers,

Beloved Members of our Respective Brotherhoods,

 

Christ is risen!

 

We are pleased to be able to greet you today in this Bright Week, as we celebrate the joy of the Easter Feast. We bring greetings to you, Your Beatitude, to the Brotherhood, and to all the people of your community in Jerusalem and the Holy Land, and we assure you of our prayers for you in your arch pastoral ministry.

As we greet you this Easter, we are deeply conscious that we do so on the eve of the centenary of the Armenian genocide. This celebration of Easter will have a special meaning for all Armenians in the light of this commemoration, and we pray that the Light that shines from the Holy Tomb of Our Lord Jesus Christ may bring comfort and encouragement to the Armenian people as you remember the horrors of this terrible chapter in human history.

Sadly, the world remains an intimate witness to persecution and terror, in our own day, Christians and others are still persecuted for their faith. The innocent continue to be the victims of unscrupulous and amoral leaders and gangs of terrorists. In our own region we see almost daily unspeakable acts of cruelty that stains further a land that is already marked with the blood of martyrs.

In the face of this reality the Light of the Resurrection remains a beacon of hope and inspiration to millions. We who are the guardians and servants of the Holy Places know the power and the possibility of the Holy Places to transform the human heart and renew the human spirit.  In a world of darkness this Light is our only hope.

May God give us the grace always to keep before us the mission of the Holy Places to be a beacon of hope to all, and may this celebration of Easter strengthen our resolve to do all in our power to deepen our common witness to the truth of the Resurrection.

 

Christ is risen!

Thank you.

 

His Beatitude

THEOPHILOS III

Patriarch of Jerusalem




PASCHAL VISITS OF OTHER DENOMINATIONS TO THE PATRIARCHATE

On Easter Tuesday, the 1st/14th of April 2015, the visit of the Israeli President to the Patriarchate was followed by the Paschal visits of Western Church delegations.

The first to visit the Patriarchate where the Franciscan monks of the Holy Land.

The Franciscan Brothers were addressed by His Beatitude Theophilos, Patriarch of Jerusalem, in English, see link: https://en.jerusalem-patriarchate.info/2015/04/14/13865

The Franciscans were followed by representatives of the Armenian Patriarchate, led by Archbishop Aris Shirvanian.

Likewise, Patriarch Theophilos welcomed the Armenians in English, see link: https://en.jerusalem-patriarchate.info/2015/04/14/13870

From the Secretariat-General

httpv://youtu.be/hQBrMVNoHGY




H.B. THEOPHILOS’ III ADDRESS TO THE ARMENIAN DELEGATION ON THE OCCASION OF THEIR PASCHAL VISIT TO THE PATRIARCHATE OF JERUSALEM.

14 April 2015

 

Your Beatitude, Patriarch Nourhan,

Your Eminences,

Your Graces.

Reverend Fathers,

Beloved members of our Respective Brotherhoods,

 

We greet you in this joyous season of Easter, and we thank you for your festal greetings. As we celebrate this Feast of Feasts, we give thanks to Almighty God for deepening relationship of co-operation that is emerging between our two Brotherhoods, as we seek to be faithful in our mission as guardians and servants of the Holy Places.

Our region is facing a crisis of unprecedented proportions and the Christian presence in the Holy Land and in the Middle East, where we have lived and flourished since the earliest days of the Church, is under new and terrible threat. Persecution is on the rise, and ancient, established communities are disappearing or being systematically eradicated.

This new situation puts an even higher premium on our mission. The Holy Places that have been committed to our care by Divine Providence are the living testimony of our sacred history in this land, an undeniable witness to the presence of God among his people and the guarantee in the eyes of the world that this region is our home. A vital, vibrant Christian presence is essential to the integrity of the Holy City of Jerusalem and our entire region, and ours is the responsibility to ensure that this presence remains strong and safe.

We therefore continue to be committed to all that is necessary to safe-guard the well-being of the Holy Places and the security or our Christian communities, and we welcome the genuine ecumenical spirit that must always characterize the best relations between Churches.

May the Light that shines from the Holy Tomb this Easter enlighten our minds and our hearts, that we may be effective witnesses to the truth of the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ is risen!

Thank you

His Beatitude

THEOPHILOS III

Patriarch of Jerusalem




THE PRESIDENT OF ISRAEL VISITS THE PATRIARCHATE

On the morning of Easter Tuesday, the 1st/14th of April 2015, the President of Israel, Mr Reuven Rivlin, visited the Patriarchate.

His Excellency the President was welcomed at the Hall of the Throne by His Beatitude Theophilos, Patriarch of Jerusalem, in the presence of Hagiotaphite Fathers and the Leaders of Christian Churches in Jerusalem, as Archimandrite Aristovoulos with his assistants sang “Let’s rejoice on this Day of the Resurrection”.

On behalf of all, His Beatitude addressed the Israeli President in English, see link: https://en.jerusalem-patriarchate.info/2015/04/14/13615

The Patriarch went on to offer Mr Rivlin a silver seven-branch lampstand in commemoration of their meeting.

His Excellency the President was also addressed by the other Leaders of Christian Churches in Jerusalem.

In his reply speech, the President of Israel spoke in English (https://en.jerusalem-patriarchate.info/2015/04/14/13610) whilst offering the Patriarch a replica of a very old coin.

The Israeli President was accompanied by associates of his and the representatives of the Department of Christian Affairs at Israel’s Religions Ministry, Messrs. Salameh Yacoub and Cezar Margiye.  

From the Secretariat-General




HIS BEATITUDE THEOPHILOS III PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM ADDRESS ON THE OCCASION OF THE VISIT OF THE PRESIDENT OF ISRAEL.

Tuesday, 14 April 2015

An Address on the Occasion of the Visit of the President of Israel

to a Gathering of the Heads of the Churches and Christian Communities

of the Holy Land at the Patriarchate

 

 

Your Excellency, Mr. President,

Your Beatitudes,

Your Eminences,

Your Graces,

Respected Members of the Government and Civil Service,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

We welcome you, Mr. President, to the Patriarchate of Jerusalem on behalf of the Churches and Christian communities of the Holy Land, and we thank you for your visit during this season in which Christians throughout the region celebrate the most sacred feast of the year. At Pascha, the eyes of the world turn toward Jerusalem in hope and expectation.

We greet you also with blessings for the recent feast of Pesach. The close relationship between Pesach and Pascha are an important reminder to us all of the deep bonds that unite the children of Abraham in our respective Abrahamic traditions, of which our Muslim sisters and brothers are also an integral part.

Jerusalem and the Holy Land have always known religious, cultural, and ethnic diversity, and this diversity is an essential part of the integrity of our region. Jews, Christian and Muslim have lived here side by side for centuries, always seeking mutual understanding, and this experience is both crucial for our mutual well-being and for peace in our region and our world. Ours is a unique witness, especially in the particularly turbulent current situation of the Middle East region, of the possibility of a future in which all peoples may realize there is no better alternative than to live together in genuine harmony. Therefore, we will keep this vision before us in this city, which is holy to all three Abrahamic faiths, and in fact, to the whole world.

We wish to acknowledge and commend you, Mr. President, for the strong stance you have taken against religious bigotry of any kind, and for the actions you have taken against crimes targeting religious shrines, monuments, and the Holy Places. We share with you, Mr. President, an abhorrence of prejudice of any kind, and we support the protection of communities and sacred places against attacks and vandalism. Such acts have no place in this city or in this Holy Land.

We re-affirm to you our commitment as the Heads of the Churches and Christian communities of the Holy Land to be an effective partner in your mission, together with all who strive for peace in our beloved Holy Land. This is our moral duty and responsibility as religious leaders, and we cannot rest until all those who call Jerusalem their home come to know the peace of Jerusalem, for which we all pray.

Again and again, we return to the words of the Psalmist who says, “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! For there the Lord ordained His blessing, life for evermore” (Psalm 132 [133]: 1,3).

It is the responsibility of all the children of Abraham, Jew, Christian, and Muslim, to live the full meaning of this promise, so that the Light that shines from this Holy City may always be a beacon of hope to all humankind.

May God bless you, Mr. President, your family, and all the peoples of our beloved Holy Land, and may God grant you strength for the work that is yours.

 

Thank you.

HIS BEATITUDE

THEOPHILOS III

PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM




PASCHAL GREETINGS TO THE FRANCISCAN CUSTODY OF THE HOLY LAND IN CELEBRATION OF EASTER.

14 April 2015

 

Your Beatitude,

Your Excellency, Father Pierbattista,

Your Eminences,

Dear Fathers,

Beloved Members of our respective Brotherhoods.

 

We greet you, dear brothers, in this Easter Week, as you celebrate the Feast of the Resurrection with your communities in the Holy Land, with the stirring words of the great hymn by Saint John Damascene:

 

The day of resurrection! Earth tell it out abroad

The Passover of gladness, the Passover of God.

From death to life eternal, from earth unto the sky,

Our Christ hath brought us over, with hymns of victory.

 

The victory of God destroying death by raising our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is made plain in that uncreated Light, that shines even now from the Holy Tomb. This Light enlightens all in that faith that “is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen”, (Heb. 11:1).

As we greet you for your celebration of Easter, we rejoice in the excellent co-operation that continues to characterize our common mission to guard and serve the Holy Places. In our Easter faith, we derive the strength and conviction to deepen our mutual relationship of good will that we must maintain not just for ourselves, but for the sake of the well-being of the Christian presence in the Holy Land and throughout the Middle East and all those who come to us every year on pilgrimage from around the world.

We continue to face many challenges together, not the least of which remains the on-going concern that we all have about access to the Holy Places, especially at the time of the great feasts. There is also the matter of the inappropriate intervention in the life of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher by external authorities that can only but raise serious questions for us.

While we value the support and assistance of others in our mission, we recognize that in the end it is our collective responsibility as the guardians and servants of the Holy Places to ensure that the ancient rights and privileges of the Christian community are safe – guarded. There can be no intrusion into responsibilities that are properly ours and that are guaranteed by the Status Quo. It is only by the grace of God that we can do this work together and we commend your commitment, dear brothers of the Franciscan Custody to ensuring that nothing subverts the genuine ad proper collaboration between us.

So we rejoice with you today, and we congratulate you as we celebrate the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ. May God bless you in your common life as a brotherhood and may God bless all the peoples of our this Holy City of Jerusalem and our beloved Holy Land.

 

Thank you.

His Beatitude

THEOPHILOS III

Patriarch of Jerusalem




DOXOLOGY ON GREEK NATIONAL DAY – 25TH OF MARCH

At 10:00 am on Wednesday, the 12th/25th of March 2015, Doxology was performed at the katholikon of the Church of the Resurrection on the anniversary of the 25th of March 1821, Greek national day.

Doxology was performed as gratitude for the liberation of the Greek Nation from the bitter Turkish slavery, and as supplication for the atonement and repose of our Fathers, the National Martyrs who had fought and died for the freedom of Greece.

Patriarch Theophilos led the service with co-officiating Hagiotaphite Primates dressed in a pallium and a stole, and Hieromonks dressed in a stole. The Greek Consul-General to Jerusalem, Mr Georgios Zacharoudiakis, attended the service with associates of his, members of the Greek Parish of Jerusalem, fathers and nuns of the Patriarchate.

Doxology was followed by procession to the Patriarchate, where the Greek Consul-General addressed guests in Greek.

His Beatitude also spoke in Greek. In Arabic, His address may be reached here: https://en.jerusalem-patriarchate.info/ar/2015/03/25/11183

A reception followed at the Patriarchate, hosted by the Greek Consulate-General.

From the Secretariat-General

httpv://youtu.be/BCyvCqjnvRw




THE NAME DAY OF HIS BEATITUDE THEOPHILOS, PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM

On Saturday the 8th/21st of March 2015, the Name Day of Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem was observed one day earlier than usual, on the commemoration of the Holy Forty Martyrs who had suffered a martyr’s death in Lake Sebaste of Caesarea, Pontus. The feast was observed as a Small Parrhesia.

A’ Vespers

The feast began on Friday afternoon with the Ninth Hour at 1.45 pm in the monastic church of Sts Constantine and Helen, followed by a procession to the Church of the Resurrection, where the Patriarch venerated at the Holy Apokathelosis. The Patriarchal Retinue then walked to the Holy Aedicula, where Patriarch Theophilos blessed the incense.

Veneration was followed by entrance into the katholikon, where Hierodeacons performed a censing along the holy shrines.

The Head Cantor of the Church of the Resurrection, Archimandrite Aristovoulos, sang on the right and the Typikaris [head of church rituals] of the monastic church of Sts Constantine and Helen, Archimandrite Alexios, sang on the left alongside f. Joseph of Mount Athos.

The service of the Fourth Stasis of the Salutations of the Akathist Hymn was held toward the end of Vespers and followed by the procession of the Hagiotaphite Fathers to the Monastery of their repentance.

B’ On feast-day

On the morning of Saturday, at 7:00 am, the feast began with an official procession to the Church of the Resurrection.

After entering the katholikon, Patriarch Theophilos rose to the Throne, then proceeded into the Holy Bema with the Primates.

Once the Patriarch, the Primates and Priests had put on their sacerdotal vestments, the Divine Liturgy began in the katholikon led by the Patriarch. Co-officiating were: Metropolitans Kyriakos of Nazareth, Isychios of Kapitolias, Timotheos of Bostra, Benedictus of Philadelphia, and Nicolaos of Mesogea and Lavreotiki, visiting from the Church of Greece; Archbishops Alexios of Tiberias, Dorotheos of Avila, Damascene of Joppa, Aristarchos of Constantina, Methodios of Tabor, Theophylaktos of Jordan, Theodosios of Sebaste, Demetrius of Lydda, Nektarios of Anthedon, and Philoumenos of Pella. Also in attendance were Hagiotaphite Hieromonks and Presbyters, Priests visiting from other Churches, the Exarch of the Holy Sepulcher in Athens, Archimandrite Damian, Archdeacon Evlogios, and the Greek Consul-General to Jerusalem, Mr Georgios Zacharoudiakis. A great crowd of faithful participated, as Archimandrite Aristovoulos sang, aided by Archimandrites Philotheos and Leontios, as well as Mr Panagiotis Pantelis of Cyprus and Mr Lycoudes of Greece.

This magnificent Liturgy was followed by Doxology on the occasion of the Patriarch’s name-day.

On the conclusion of mass, guests proceeded to the Patriarchate, where the Elder Secretary-General, Archbishop Aristarchos of Constantina, addressed His Beatitude on behalf of the Holy and Sacred Synod and the Hagiotaphite Brotherhood.

The Greek Consul-General to Jerusalem also addressed Patriarch Theophilos, as did Hagiotaphites speaking on behalf of the flock, or representatives of other Orthodox Churches.

Patriarch Theophilos replied in Greek to the festive addresses.

The event at the Patriarchate was followed by meatless lunch.

From the Secretariat-General

httpv://youtu.be/8uQ5tHVscuI

httpv://youtu.be/T4L-SHcv-9I

httpv://youtu.be/7oYwPtaFRxw




THE VENERATION OF THE CROSS AT THE PATRIARCHATE

On Sunday, the 2nd/15th of March 2015, the Patriarchate observed the feast of the Veneration of the Holy Cross for the strengthening and enhancement of the spiritual course to the Holy Easter.

Α’ Vespers

At 13.45 pm, the Ninth Hour was recited at the monastic church of Sts Constantine and Helen, followed by a procession of the Hagiotaphite Retinue, led by Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem, to the All-holy Church of the Resurrection.

There, the Primates venerated at the Holy Apokathelosis and the Holy Sepulcher.

They then entered the katholikon, where the Patriarch gave blessings, and deacons performed a censing along the holy shrines.

Vespers was then held, as the Head Cantor of the Church of the Resurrection, Archimandrite Aristovoulos, sang the “Anoixantaria” psalms.

At the end of Vespers, Primates walked to the Patriarchates.

B’ On the day of the feast

On the morning of the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross, the feast was observed as the Hagiotaphite members walked from the Patriarchate to the Church of the Resurrection.

Upon their arrival, Patriarch Theophilos venerated at the Holy Apokathelosis and the Holy Sepulcher.

Entering the katholikon, His Beatitude rose to the Throne while, amidst bells tolling, priests and deacons walked to the Bema. As the “Prophets from above…” was sang, the Patriarch walked to the Bema too, where He was dressed in formal attire, just as the Primates.

After that, in the area opposite the Holy Aedicula, the Divine Liturgy began, led by Patriarch Theophilos, with co-officiating Primates: Metropolitan Isychios of Kapitolias, Archbishops Theophanes of Gerassa, Dorotheos of Avila, Aristarchos of Constantina, Theodosios of Sebaste and Demetrius of Lydda, the Bishop of Kamenets-Potolsky visiting from Ukraine, Hagiotaphite Hieromonks and others. A great crowd of faithful from Jerusalem, Greece, Russia and Romania attended the service.

Mass was performed upon the Life-giving Sepulcher. It was followed by a procession thrice around the Holy Sepulcher and the Shrines surrounding the Holy Bema.

Upon the return to the katholikon, the Primates walked to the Patriarchates, where the Patriarch addressed them in Greek.

In Arabic, the homily may be read here: https://en.jerusalem-patriarchate.info/ar/2015/03/15/10946

From the Secretariat-General

httpv://youtu.be/W-Uhq6-sq-0