JERUSALEM: June 10, 2019
Photo-report on feast-day celebrations at the Convent of the Ascension of the Lord on the Mount of Olives

On Thursday, June 6, 2019, His Eminence Archbishop Mark of Berlin and Germany officiated at feast-day celebrations at the Convent of the Ascension of the Lord on the Mt of Olives, Jerusalem. Before all-night vigil commenced on Wednesday evening, Archbishop Mark was ceremoniously greeted by Archimandrite Roman (Krassovsky), Chief of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem, and Abbess Varvara (Novikova) and her nuns, along with a large contingent of pilgrims from Germany, England, America, Brazil, Switzerland, Australia, Russia and Ukraine, who scheduled their trip to coincide with the Ascension of the Lord. Archbishop Mark was joined in the service by His Grace Bishop Arseny of Arsenievsk and Dalnegorsk and His Grace Bishop Nicholas of Manhattan, Deputy Secretary of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. Also serving were 22 priests and two deacons.

During Divine Liturgy on Thursday, Hieromonk Iona (Galishnikov), in accordance with a decision of the Synod of Bishops of ROCOR, was elevated to the rank of hegumen.

At the end of Liturgy, His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem and All Palestine arrived to deliver a sermon, during which he congratulated the clergymen and nuns of the convent as well as the worshipers present.