On Friday morning, May 17, approximately 20 Presidents of the Imperial Russian Palestinian Society from Russia and abroad, visited the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, under the lead of Mr. Stepashin.
The group of representatives was received by Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos and Hagiotaphite Fathers.
In this meeting Mr. Stepashin thanked Theophllos on behalf of the Society for yesterday’s delegation with his Message at Sergei hotel, which was read by the Archbishop Aristarchos of Constantina, and Secretary-General.
Mr. Stepashin furthermore informed Patriarch on the activity of the Society for the help of the needy Christians of the Holy Land, and especially for the suffering Christians of Syria, and on the occasion of the completion of 200 years since the founding of the Society, offered Him the Supreme Award of the Society.
Patriarch Theophilos thanked Mr. Stepashin for the award and the briefing, and simultaneously informed him on the activities of the Patriarchate for the moral and material support and help it offers to the needy Christians of the Holy Land, as well as on the recent establishment of THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE (ICOHS), which serves the purpose of helping the preservation of the Status Quo in Jerusalem.
The Patriarch also referred to many other activities of the Patriarchate for the encouragement of the Christian presence in the Holy Land and concluded his words by offering Mr. Stepashin an embossed icon of Jerusalem, depicted in the centre of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and to the members of the delegation he offered souvenirs from Jerusalem as blessings.
Source: Patriarchate of Jerusalem
