JERUSALEM: 28 May 2024
Feast-day celebrations at St Chariton the Confessor Lavra

On May 9/22, 2024, the day of the feast of the Transfer of the Relics of St Nicholas, the patronal feast of the lower church in the Lavra of St Chariton at Fara was celebrated.

On the eve of the feast day, Hieromonk Theodore (Kirike) and Hierodeacon Amphilochius (Mazur) served all-night vigil. The rebuilder of this monastery, Monk Hariton (Burov), led the service in the kliros.

In the morning, Archimandrite Roman (Krassovsky), Chief of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, arrived at the monastery to lead Divine Liturgy. Before the service, Fr Theodore blessed the water as is customary on the day of the patronal feast. At the Liturgy, as in all monasteries of the Mission, a prayer for peace in the Holy Land and Kievan Rus was read. Also commemorated were His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry (Berezovsky), First Hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, with his God-protected flock and the imprisoned hierarchs: Metropolitan Paul, Metropolitan Theodosius, Metropolitan Jonathan, Metropolitan Arseny and Metropolitan Luke. Also, marking the anniversary of his repose on the day of this feast in 1965, Metropolitan Anastassy (Gribanovsky) of blessed memory was remembered. With the blessing of the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem, Vladyka Anastassy led the affairs of the Mission for ten years during the most difficult times of post-war Palestine.

The REM wished Fr Chariton spiritual strength to continue his obedience in this holy place.