Prayers for peace were offered by the hierarchs, clergy, and faithful of the Jerusalem Patriarchate yesterday, following upon the call of His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos and other religious leaders to dedicate the day to prayer and fasting in light of the violence in the Holy Land.
Jozef Van den Berg converted to Orthodox Christianity a year later, after paying visits to Elder Sophrony in Essex, Elder Porphyrios in Athens and Elder Paisos in Mount Athos.
Tens of thousands filled the cathedral and the square in front of it and the bells of the cathedral joyously rang out to greet the Serbian primate who had arrived to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the cathedral’s consecration.
A host of primates and hierarchs from throughout the Orthodox world gathered in Athens last week and over the weekend for the academic conference organized by the Church of Greece in honor of the centenary of its Theologia journal.
The ecclesiastical leaders issued a statement last week calling for an end to the violence that has recently flared up in the Holy Land and condemning any acts that target civilians.