On Friday, the 17th of October 2025, Archimandrite Symeon, the Archbishop-elect of Sinai, Pharan and Raitho, arrived at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel, accompanied by a venerable delegation of Sinai Fathers from the Holy Monastery of the God-trodden Mount Sinai, as well as by Hierarchs representing the Patriarchate of Alexandria and the Church of Greece, Priests, Hieromonks, Monks, and a multitude of devout pilgrims, who accompanied His Grace in a spirit of joy and emotion.
The Patriarchal delegation from Jerusalem, consisting of the Elder Dragoman Archimandrite Mattheos and the Secretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod, Archimandrite Christodoulos, representatives of Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem, welcomed the elected Hierarch with ecclesiastical order and heartfelt love, thus confirming once again the fraternal communion and unity between the Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Holy Monastery of the God-trodden Mount Sinai.
Subsequently, all accompanied the elected Archbishop to his lodging in Jerusalem, where he was to prepare for the great and holy day of his ordination in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
This day was marked as a first herald of joy and hope; the entire Church of Jerusalem was filled with spiritual emotion and gladness, awaiting with deep contrition the sacred moment when the grace of the Holy Spirit shall overshadow the new Archbishop of Sinai.
Source: Patriarchate of Jerusalem
