On Tuesday, July 7, 2026, the Church celebrated the Feast of the Nativity of the Holy, Glorious Forerunner and Baptist John.
On this feast, the whole Church, and especially the Church of Jerusalem, commemorates and relives the events concerning the Holy Forerunner as recounted by the Evangelist Luke (Luke 1:1–80), namely his birth to the Prophet Zechariah and Elizabeth, who were barren, as well as the muteness of his father and the restoration of his speech when he wrote: “His name is John” (Luke 1:63, NKJV).
In honour of John the Forerunner, “among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11, NKJV), a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy was celebrated at the Holy Monastery of the Holy Forerunner in Ein Karem, belonging to the Moscow Patriarchate. The service was presided over by the representative of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Metropolitan Hesychios of Capitolias, with con-celebrants the Archimandrite Vassianos, Head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem (MISSIA), Russian-speaking priests, and Archdeacon Mark.
Vespers and the Divine Liturgy were also celebrated at the Holy Monastery of the Holy Forerunner in Ein Karem, which belongs to the Patriarchate, by Archbishop Philoumenos of Pella. Concelebrating with him were the Archimandrites Philoumenos and Ignatios, the Russian-speaking parish priest Fr Nicholas, and Hierodeacon Prodromos. The chanting was led by Archimandrite Dositheos, with the participation of monks, nuns, and Russian-speaking and Romanian-speaking faithful from Jerusalem, as well as members of the Consulate General of Greece in Jerusalem.
Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem visited both Holy Monasteries, accompanied by the Chief Secretary, Archbishop Aristarchos of Constantina, and bestowed his blessing upon the monks, nuns, and faithful.
Patriarch Theophilos also attended the abundant Lenten meal offered by Archimandrite Vassianos and the Abbess, Nun Aikaterini, as well as the generous Lenten refreshment provided by the Superior of the Monastery of the Holy Forerunner of our Patriarchate, Monk Chariton.
Source: Patriarchate of Jerusalem
