JERUSALEM: May 25, 2015
Photo-Report on the Celebrations of the Ascension of the Lord on the Mount of Olives and Fara

On the eve of the Ascension of the Lord, May 20, 2015, the clergymen of the Church of Jerusalem, in accordance to tradition, performed minor Vespers in the Chapel of the Ascension of the Lord, followed by a procession of the cross to Little Galilee, the very site where the Savior first appeared to His disciples after His Resurrection, the residence of the Patriarch of Jerusalem. His Holiness Patriarch Theophilus awaited the procession, where he then led prayers.

On the day of the Ascension of the Lord, Divine Liturgy was celebrated with special ceremony on the actual site of the Ascension of the Lord on the peak of the Mount of Olives. Right next to the chapel with the so-called footprint in stone of the Savior, several Christian confessions celebrate divine services there, Orthodox Christians, Copts, Armenians and Syrians, each under their own tent.

The Orthodox service was led by Archbishop Dorotheos; the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem was represented by Hieromonk Dometian (Markarian). Not far from the site of the Ascension is the Russian Ascension Convent, which celebrates its feast day on this holiday. Officiating at services were His Eminence Archbishop Mark of Berlin and Germany and His Grace Bishop Nicholas of Manhattan, joined by clergymen of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, led by the Chief of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission, Archimandrite Roman (Krassovsky). Patriarch Theophilos attended Liturgy, having previously been at the Chapel of the Ascension. He congratulated the worshipers gave Abbess Moisseia a gift of an icon of the Mother of God “of Jerusalem.” Abbess Elizabeth and her nuns from the neighboring Convent of St Mary Magdalene were also in attendance. After Liturgy, a procession of the cross was held with a multitude of worshipers.

The following day, the feast of the Translation of the Relics of St Nicholas the Miracle -Worker, His Eminence Archbishop Mark of Berlin and Germany celebrated Divine Liturgy at St Nicholas Church in St Chariton Lavra in Fara, of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.