Patriarch Daniel venerated the Panagia Jordanitissa. The Mother of God and St John Jacob urge us to save the Romanian Skete from the Jordan

Aurelian Iftimiu – Basilica News Agency – March 2017

The Romanian Patriarch prayed Thursday before the Jordan Icon of the Mother of God.

The Icon recovered from the Romanian Skete on the Jordan Valley was brought March 9, 2017, to the Patriarchal Residence by the V. Rev. Archimandrite Teofil Anastasoaie, superior of the Romanian Settlements in Jerusalem, Jordan and Jericho.

Father Teofil thanked His Beatitude for the paternal care and asked for his patriarchal blessing before returning to the Holy Land.

In his speech, His Beatitude referred to the Romanian Skete on the Jordan Valley as a place of worship where Saint John Jacob ministered as a priest.

Following the 1967 War, the settlement was damaged seriously and since the Israeli authorities mined the land in 1970, access in the area has been restricted for security reasons.

Patriarch Daniel stressed the need to restore the Romanian Skete and to place inside the icon of the Mother of God, which St John Jacob much honoured and before which he prayed fervently.

Through her presence in Romania, the Mother of God utters about her need to return to the church where the Romanian Saint John Jacob performed his office for five years, the Patriarch said and explained how this is a special duty that we have to fulfil.

This is a work of the Mother of God and of St John Jacob, through which they call us to turn our eyes to that church, to draw her out from abandonment, from oblivion and from the wounds produced by war on the body of this beautiful Romanian Church from the Jordan Valley.

After presenting the icon’s journey in the capital city of Romania, Fr. Teofil Anastasoaie thanked His Beatitude for the blessing and for supporting the mine clearing of the Jordan Valley.

The superior of the Romanian Settlements in the Holy Land presented His Beatitude a copy of the Jordan Icon of the Mother of God.

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