Primate of Russian Church consecrates cathedral of the Gorny Convent in Jerusalem

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On 12 November 2012, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, who is currently on an official visit to the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, arrived in the Gorny Convent.

Meeting His Holiness were Archimandrite Isidor (Minayev), head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem, hegumenness Georgia (Schukina), mother superior of the Gorny Convent, sisters of the Convent, and pilgrims.

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church consecrated the altar of the Convent’s main Cathedral of All Saints Who Shone Forth in the Land of Russia. Concelebrating with His Holiness Patriarch Kirill at the Divine Liturgy were Metropolitan Isyhios of Capitoliad (Patriarchate of Jerusalem); Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations; Archbishop Mark of Berlin, Germany and Great Britain, first deputy President of the ROCOR’s Synod of Bishops; Archbishop Alexander of Pereyaslavl-Khmelnitsky and Vishnevoye; Bishop Sergiy of Solnechnogorsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s administrative secretariat; Archimandrite Isidor (Minayev); archpriest Nikolai Balashov, vice-chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations; archpriest Igor Yakimchuk, DECR secretary for inter-Orthodox relations; protodeacon Vladimir Nazarkin, assistant to the DECR chairman; and deacon Alexander Volkov, head of the press-service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

Praying at the service were Mr. Vladimir Legoida, chairman of the Synodal Information Department, monastics, numerous pilgrims, and benefactors.

Among those present at the church were Mr. Sergei Yakovlev, Russian Ambassador to Israel, Mr. Alexander Rudakov, Russia’s representative to the Palestinian National Authority; Mr. Anatoly Yurkov, Minister Counselor of the Russian Embassy in Israel; diplomats, representatives of state authorities and public organizations.

After the Liturgy, hegumennes Georgia (Schukina) thanked His Holiness Patriarch Kirill for taking paternal care of the Convent and for consecrating the restored Church of All Russian Saints.

In his response, the Primate of the Russian Church reminded the worshippers of the history of the Gorny Convent and cordially thanked all those who took part in the reconstruction of the church, including heads of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission, hegumenness Georgia, and sisters of the Convent.

Patriarch Kirill wished hegumennes Georgia and sisters to continue their service with dignity, bearing in mind the significance of their mission. His Holiness said in particular: “Since our numerous pilgrims got the opportunity to come to the Holy Land, the Gorny Convent has become for many of them not only a place of prayer but also a home. The sisters of the Convent carry out a special service, accompanying our groups of pilgrims, telling them about the shrines, sharing with them spiritual experience of their life in the Holy Land. I know about amazing effects of these pilgrimages, I know how people open their hearts and come to believe in Christ after visiting the shrines of Jerusalem and being introduced to spiritual life of sisters.

“You live here under the omophorion of Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem. I would like to express my gratitude to His Beatitude for his paternal love and support felt by all those who live in the Convent or come to stay here. I also thank the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre for their attention.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill presented the newly consecrated Cathedral with the Icon of the Protecting Veil of the Theotokos and read out his decree, according to which the Divine Liturgy may be celebrated with the Royal Doors open until the Lord’s Prayer at the two churches of the Gorny Convent: the Cathedral of All Saints Who Shone Forth in the Land of Russia and the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church awarded church orders to those who had helped in the reconstruction.