Jerusalem, September 19, 2023
Photo: http://mitropolia.spb.ru/
As home to the holiest sites in the Christian faith, Jerusalem sees millions of pilgrims every year. Thus, there are many occasions for hierarchs and clergy of sister Orthodox Churches to concelebrate together at the holy places.
The most recent such concelebration occurred this past Sunday, September 17, at the Holy Sepulchre, when hierarchs of the Churches of Jerusalem, Russia, and Serbia concelebrated together with clergy from their respective Churches and the Romanian Church.
Photo: mitropolia.spb.ru
His Eminence Metropolitan Barsanuphius of St. Petersburg and His Grace Bishop Antonije of Moravica (the Serbian representative in Moscow) joined His Eminence Archbishop Theophanes of Gerasa of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, reports the Metropolis of St. Petersburg.
The service was celebrated in Greek, Church Slavonic, and Romanian.
The Liturgy was celebrated not simply within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but within the Sepulchre itself.
Photo: mitropolia.spb.ru
The chapel over the very site of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is divided into two parts: the Chapel of the Angel, where an angel proclaimed the glad tidings to the Myrrh-Bearing Women, and the Chapel of the Tomb of the Lord. When the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy is celebrated there, the stone on which the Lord lay serves as the table of oblation, and the marble pedestal in the Chapel of the Angel with part of the stone that was rolled away from the entrance to the Tomb serves as the altar.
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