Jerusalem, September 30, 2019
The feast of the Exaltation of the Precious and Lifegiving Cross is one the annual 12 Great Feasts of the universal Orthodox Church, celebrating the discovery of the True Cross of Christ by Empress Helena during a pilgrimage to Holy Land in 326 and its exaltation in 336 following the consecration of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
Thus, it is appropriate that the feast was celebrated in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built over the Tomb of the Lord as well as the site of the Lord’s Crucifixion and the site where the Cross was found, by clergy of the Ukrainian, Serbian, Romanian, Russian, Greek, Cypriot, and Jerusalem Churches, reports the press service of the Jerusalem Patriarchate.
The Divine Liturgy for the feast was led by His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem, with the concelebration of 9 hierarchs of the Church of Jerusalem, as well as visiting bishops from the Patriarchates of Moscow and Serbia and the Chruch of Greece, and priests and deacons from the Churches of Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, and Serbia.
Following the Liturgy, the participants processed to the cave where the True Cross was found, then to the Sacred Tomb of the Lord, and then to the site of Golgotha, where the Lord was crucified. The Cross was elevated at the holy altar at Golgotha, blessing all four directions, with special prayers being read out.
Following the procession, Pat. Theophilos received Orthodox pilgrims from Ukraine, including hierarchs, clergy, and laity.
According to His Grace Bishop Pimen of Dubno of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Patriarch of Jerusalem assured the Ukrainian faithful that they would always be welcome to visit and serve at the holy sites in Jerusalem, noting that he recognizes only His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine as a canonical primate in Ukraine.
According to Bp. Pimen, the Ukrainian delegation was warmly received by the Patriarchate and was offered to concelebrate at the feast.
Photo: spzh.news
He also noted that the hierarchs of the other Churches that celebrated in Jerusalem asked the bishops, clergy, and faithful of the Ukrainian Church if their primate was Metropolitan Onuphry before joyfully welcoming them.
The Telegram channel Pravblog further reports that the documents for the visiting Ukrainian clergy were checked twice before allowing them to serve, and they were again checked before allowing them to commune.
The Patriarchate of Jerusalem has been strictly checking the jurisdiction of all clergy and laity coming from Ukraine ever since the Patriarchate of Constantinople created the schismatic “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” last December and granted it autocephaly in January.
Earlier this month, Pat. Theophilos also confirmed again in a meeting with His Eminence Metropolitan Pavel of the Belarusian Orthodox Church that he recognizes only the canonical Ukrainian Church under Met. Onuphry.
