Russian Orthodox Patriarch Visits Jerusalem

[Apotheoun]

Patriarch Kirill at the Church of the Resurrection (a.k.a. the Holy Sepulchre) in Jerusalem.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INUG_t3vMqM[/media]

[Anastasia13]

Thou art amesome, Apo.

Edited November 17, 2012 by Light and Truth

[Apotheoun]

Patriarch Kirill celebrating an all-night vigil liturgy in Trinity Cathedral at the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgO52cnVXso

[Selah]

Jerusalem is called the "Mother of all Churches" because of the fact that it all started there It's also the site of the Holy fire miracle ^_^

[Apotheoun]

[quote name='Selah' timestamp='1353198529' post='2512024']
Jerusalem is called the "Mother of all Churches" because of the fact that it all started there It's also the site of the Holy fire miracle ^_^
[/quote]
Yes, the miracle of the Holy Fire occurs every year on Orthodox Easter when the Greek Orthodox Patriarch goes into the Tomb of Christ and the fire of God's holy presence comes down from heaven and lights the candles that he holds. The Holy Fire is then sent around the world to Orthodox Churches as a part of the Paschal Liturgy.

[Apotheoun]

Video excerpts from the divine liturgy celebrated by Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow at the Church of the Resurrection (a.k.a., the Holy Sepulchre).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Urb_FNJmNYA

[Selah]

[quote name='Apotheoun' timestamp='1353199813' post='2512036']
Yes, the miracle of the Holy Fire occurs every year on Orthodox Easter when the Greek Orthodox Patriarch goes into the Tomb of Christ and the fire of God's holy presence comes down from heaven and lights the candles that he holds. The Holy Fire is then sent around the world to Orthodox Churches as a part of the Paschal Liturgy.
[/quote]


It must be something else to witness that in person!

I heard that the fire does not hurt the person if they touch it, which is amazing if true.

[Apotheoun]

[quote name='Selah' timestamp='1353200282' post='2512039']
It must be something else to witness that in person!

I heard that the fire does not hurt the person if they touch it, which is amazing if true.
[/quote]
I too have heard that people can touch the Holy Fire without being burned, but I have not seen it done.

Here is a video of the Descent of the Holy Fire recorded from the live Russian NTV network broadcast back in April 2012:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LSP92iRd4g[/media]

[Apotheoun]

Video excerpts of Patriarch Kirill celebrating the liturgy of consecration of the new Church at the Gorny Convent in Jerusalem.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kyax6AwbocI[/media]

[Apotheoun]

[size=5][b]His Holiness Patriarch Kirill meets with Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority[/b][/size]

On 10 November 2012, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church met with H.E. Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority, at the President’s residence in Bethlehem. Participating in the meeting on the part of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem were His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem, Metropolitan Isyhios of Capitoliad, and Archimandrite Stephanos (Dispirakis), representative of the Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem and All Palestine to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

Taking part in the meeting were also members of the official delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church: Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations; Bishop Sergiy of Solnechnogorsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s administrative secretariat; Mr. Vladimir Legoida, chairman of the Synodal Information Department; 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 Mr. Mikhail Kuksov, acting head of the patriarchal personal secretariat.

Present at the meeting were Archbishop Mark of Berlin, Germany and Great Britain, first deputy President of the ROCOR’s Synod of Bishops; Archimandrite Isidor (Minayev), head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem; and Mr. Alexander Rudakov, Russia’s representative to the Palestinian National Authority.

The participants discussed the ways for establishing just and lasting peace in the Middle East and the role of religious communities in it. Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority, thanked His Holiness Kirill for visiting Palestine.

[url="http://www.mospat.ru/en/2012/11/11/news75072/"]Click here to read the entire article[/url]

[Apotheoun]

[size=5]His Holiness Patriarch Kirill meets with Shimon Peres, President of the State of Israel[/size]

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia met with H.E. Shimon Peres, President of the State of Israel, at the President’s residence on 11 November 2012.

They were joined in the meeting by the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III; Archbishop Aristarchus of Constantine; archimandrite Stephan (Dispirakis), representative of the Patriarch of Jerusalem to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia; members of the official delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church; Russian Ambassador to Israel, Sergei Yakovlev; head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission, archimandrite Isidor (Minayev), and his deputy, hegumen Feofan (Lukianov).

H.E. Shimon Peres said he was glad to welcome His Holiness Patriarch Kirill as a spiritual leader of the millions of people. “We appreciate and respect your activities,” he added.

The President shared his impressions of the recent visit to Russia, saying they were deep and that Russia has been one of the greatest countries in history and also nowadays.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill thanked Shimon Peres for his kind words permeated with wisdom, great experience and cordiality.

His Holiness explained that he has arrived in the Holy Land in accordance with tradition of visiting the Local Orthodox Churches after being elected primate of his own Church. “Our good relations with the Patriarchate of Jerusalem are rooted in old times. The Russian Church has always taken to heart the life of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem.”

His Holiness thanked the authorities of the State of Israel for the organization of his visit. “I am deeply moved by the attention to my visit and would like it to bring a modest contribution to the development of relations between Israel and Russia.”

[url="http://www.mospat.ru/en/2012/11/12/news75267/"]Click here to read the entire article[/url]

[Apotheoun]

Patriarch Kirill visits the Yad Vasham Memorial:

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUxtXjjbUbg[/media]


During the ceremony, Patriarch Kirill said,

‘Here we remember the names of those who defended the Jewish people, who saved Jews from unavoidable death. In this place I would like to recall the Red Army soldiers who saved the world from the fascist plague. Along with the six million Jews who were killed, I would like to commemorate the twenty seven million Soviet citizens who fell defending the world from the fascist power and violence.

‘Yad Vashem is certainly a place of national grief for all the Jews but at the same time it is a place where we can commemorate and pray for all those who gave their lives to prevent the domination of the man-hating ideology which divided people on racial grounds, calling some first-rate while others second-rate people subject to elimination.

‘We remember the grief and suffering and at the same time we remember the greatness of the feat performed by all those who defeated fascism. Eternal memory be to them’.

[url="http://www.mospat.ru/en/2012/11/12/news75397/"]Pictures from the event[/url]

[Apotheoun]

[size=5][b]Russian Orthodox Church to ‘Increase Presence’ in Holy Land[/b][/size]

[img]http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/dd362/theomimesis/moscow_patriarchate.jpg[/img]


AMMAN (Jordan), November 15 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Orthodox Church will encourage pilgrims to travel to Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan to thereby widen its presence in the region, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said at the end of his five-day visit there.

Some of the events on his visit agenda were "aimed at increasing the presence of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Holy Land,” Patriarch Kirill said on Wednesday while summing up the visit.

“First of all, we want as many of our pilgrims as possible to visit the Holy Land,” he said.

During his stay, the Patriarch consecrated a Russian church - the Church of All Russian Saints - in a Jerusalem suburb, visited the Russian Pilgrims House at the place where Jesus Christ is believed to have been baptized, and paid visits to other Christian holy sites in the Holy Land.
The foundations for the Church of All Russian Saints in the Gornensky Convent were laid in 1911, but construction was suspended 1914 and only resumed in 2003. The Gornensky Convent is situated in the Jerusalem suburb of Ein Karem, where, according to Christian tradition, John the Baptist was born.

[url="http://en.ria.ru/art_living/20121115/177479670.html"]Click here to read the whole article[/url]