GERMAN DIOCESE: July 20, 2023
Metropolitan Mark of Berlin and Germany presides over the celebrations dedicated to the patronal feast day of the Convent of St Elizabeth

On Tuesday, July 18, 2023, His Eminence Metropolitan Mark of Berlin and Germany celebrated Divine Liturgy, and the day before, all-night vigil, in the Convent of St Elizabeth in Buchendorf, Germany. Grand Duchess Elizabeth was martyred 105 years ago. For the feast, the miraculous icon of the Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God was brought from Darmstadt.

Abbess Maria (Sidiropoulou) and the nuns of the monastery and pilgrims prayed in the church. At the end of the Divine Liturgy and a prayer service with a procession through the monastery, His Eminence presented letters of thanks to a number of donors, decorators and laborers in the monastery.

The day before, on Monday, July 17, in the homeland of the Holy Martyr Elizabeth and the Tsarina-Martyr Alexandra Feodorovna of Darmstadt, His Grace Bishop Job celebrated festive services in the Church of St Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles. During Divine Liturgy, Bishop Job ordained the subdeacon of this church, Alexander Rosenhof, to the rank of deacon.

On the same day, in the evening, Bishop Job went to Bad Kissingen, where he presided over the patronal feast of the church of St Sergius, Abbot of Radonezh.