On Friday, July 8, 2023, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist in the Holy Monastery dedicated to him, in his birthplace of Oreini / Ein-Karem, near the hospital Hadassah.
On this feast, the Church remembers what was narrated by the Evangelist Luke (ch. 1, 5-80) about the nativity of the Holy Forerunner, that he was a gift from God to his parents, his barren mother Elizabeth and his father the Prophet Zacharias, by the revelation of an angel, which resulted in the speechlessness of Zacharias and its resolution when he wrote that “John he shall be called”. This is the one who pointed to the Lord in the Jordan River saying: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1, 29), who baptized the Lord in the Jordan, about whom the Lord said that “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11) and whom Herod beheaded in prison (Matthew 14:1-12).
In honor of the Nativity of John the Baptist, Vespers in the evening and Divine Liturgy in the morning were held in the above-mentioned Holy Monastery, presided over by Archbishop Theodosios of Sebasteia, with the co-celebration of the Archimandrites; Claudius and Amfilochios, Fr Georgios Baramki and the Head of the Russian Community in that area, Fr Nikolaos Kulinsky, other priests from Russia and Romania, and Hierodeacon Dositheos. The chanting was delivered by Nuns Danielia and Xenia, as the service was attended by the Consul General of Greece in Jerusalem Mr Evangelos Vlioras, monks, nuns, Russian-speaking and Greek-speaking believers.
After the Divine Liturgy, the good caretaker of the Monastery monk Chariton hosted a reception for the Episcopal entourage and the congregation in the forecourt garden of the Holy Church to the delight of all.
