THE FEAST OF THE NATIVITY OF THEOTOKOS AT THE JERUSALEM PATRIARCHATE

The Patriarchate of Jerusalem – September 2017

On Thursday, 8th/21st September 2017, the Patriarchate celebrated the memory of the Nativity of our All-Holy Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary. During this feast, the Church commemorates the fact that the Theotokos was given by God as the fruit of the womb of her childless parents, Joachim and Anna, who had been praying fervently for this reason, and were thus granted to become the parents of the Mother of God.

This event was celebrated at the Monastic Church of Saints Constantine and Helen of the Hagiotaphite Brotherhood, with the participation in prayer of H.H.B. our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos and Hagiotaphite Fathers. Likewise, the feast was observed at the Tomb of Theotokos in Gethsemane by an Episcopal Divine Liturgy, led by the Most Reverend Metropolitan Isychios of Kapitolias.

Nevertheless, the feast was celebrated at the Holy Monastery of Saints George and John the Chozevites, in the desert of Judea, where Saints Joachim and Anna owned a field to which they used to isolate themselves in prayer for childbearing, and where the Patriarchate keeps a Scete named after St. Anna.

From Secretariat-General

Source: