JERUSALEM: October 2, 2020
The Chief of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in the Holy Land performs the Rite of the Elevation of the Cross on the Mt of Olives

On the eve of the Feast of the Exaltation of the Lord’s Cross, September 13/26, 2020, the Chief of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem, Archimandrite Roman (Krassovsky), celebrated all-night vigil at the Mount of Olives Convent of the Ascension of the Lord. Сlerics of the Mission – Archimandrite Vasily (Druzhinets), priest Roman Gultyaev and deacon Vyacheslav Batalsky concelebrated with the chief of the Mission.

According to the typicon of this feast, after the Great Doxology, during the singing of the “Trisagion,” the Holy Cross was ceremoniously brought out to the center of the church. Then the “Order of the Exaltation of the Cross” was performed. Fr Roman blessed the worshipers with the Cross from four sides as the deacon intoned special petitions. The choir answered each petition by singing the prayer “Lord have mercy” one hundred times. As the Cross was lifted, the clergy poured water on the flowers decorating the Cross. The water ran down onto a tray of flowers that the altar servers held. The flowers were handed out to the sisters as a blessing when venerating the Cross. The rite is performed in remembrance of the finding of the precious Cross by Emperess Helen and its display by Patriarch Macarius of Jerusalem, during which the people shouted out “Lord have mercy!”

The abbess of the monastery, Abbess Barbara (Novikova) with the sisters, prayed at the Divine Liturgy. Archimandrite Roman preached on the theme of two thieves, wise and unrepentant, crucified with Christ.

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