Department for External Church Relations
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Head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission concelebrates with the Patriarch of Jerusalem at the Monastery of the Prophet Elisha
DECR Communication service, 27.06.2025
On June 27, the feast day of the Prophet Elisha, His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos of the Holy City of Jerusalem and All Palestine presided over the patronal feast service at the men’s monastery dedicated to the Holy Prophet Elisha (Jerusalem Patriarchate) in Jericho.
Concelebrating with His Beatitude were hierarchs of the Jerusalem Patriarchate: Metropolitan Kyriakos of Nazareth, Archbishop Aristarchos of Constantina (General Secretary of the Jerusalem Patriarchate), and Archbishop Makarios of Ptolemais, along with clergy of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre and Greek- and Arabic-speaking priests of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church.
Representing the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem were its head, Archimandrite Vassian (Zmeev), and a member of the Mission, Hieromonk Peter (Borodulin), as reported by the Mission’s website.
The monastic church during the Liturgy was filled with clergy of the Jerusalem Patriarchate, nuns fr om women’s monasteries of the Patriarchate and the Russian Gorny Convent, members of local Greek and Arab Orthodox communities, Russian-speaking faithful from Jerusalem and nearby towns, and pilgrims from across the Holy Land.
The service was conducted in Greek, Arabic, and Church Slavonic, with hymns performed by the choir of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre. The Gospel at the Liturgy was read in Church Slavonic by Archimandrite Vassian, head of the Mission.
After the Communion hymn, His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos addressed the worshippers with a sermon. At the end of the Liturgy, he recited the prayer for the blessing of the first fruits.
Following the service, His Beatitude invited the clergy to the monastery’s reception hall, wh ere guests were treated to a festive meal.
At its center stands the Orthodox church dedicated to the Prophet Elisha, built in 1886 with funds donated by Russian benefactors—A.D. Bogdanova and Maria Mikhailovna Kiseleva of Penza, a member of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society.
In the monastery courtyard, according to Greek tradition, lies its main relic—the sycamore tree of Zacchaeus the tax collector: the tree he climbed to see the Lord Jesus Christ. Fragments of its trunk and branches, preserved under a glass enclosure, remain today.
Opposite the sycamore tree stands a small fountain adorned with an icon depicting one of the miracles of the Prophet Elisha: the purification of Jericho’s spring with a handful of salt.
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