JERUSALEM: June 3, 2009
New Bells Hoisted Onto the "Russian Candle" On the Mount of Olives

On May 28, 2009, the feast day of the Ascension of the Lord, His Eminence Archbishop Mark of Berlin and Germany awarded the mitre and cross during the minor entrance to the Head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. Besides Archimandrite Joasaph, His Eminence was joined in the service by the head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission of the Moscow Patriarchate, Archimandrite Isidor (Minaev) and other clergymen. Praying at the Liturgy were also nuns of Gorny and Gethsemane Convents, members of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulcher, pilgrims from Russia and the CIS, Armenia, Germany and Romania.

On the eve of the holiday, new bells were hoisted into place on the bell tower known as the "Russian Candle." Thanks to Divine help, the restoration of the frescoes and iconostasis of Ascension of Our Lord Cathedral on the Mount of Olives Convent under Abbess Moisseia have been successfully completed.