THE FEASTS OF THE CIRCUMCISION OF THE LORD AND OF ST BASIL AT THE CHURCH OF THE RESURRECTION
From the midnight of Tuesday the 31st of December 2014/13th of January 2015, to 3:00 am of the 1st/14th of January 2015, Matins and the Divine Liturgy were held for the despotic feast of the Circumcision of the Lord and the memory of St Basil, Archbishop of Caesarea, at the katholikon of the Church of the Resurrection and the Holy Sepulcher.
Matins and the divine Liturgy were led by Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem, with co-officiating primates, such as Metropoliton Isychios of Kapitolias, Archbishops Aristarchos of Constantina, Dorotheos of Avila, Theodosios of Sebaste and Demetrios of Lydda, and the former representative of the Romanian Patriarchate to Jerusalem, the Very Reverend Bishop Timotheos. The head cantor of the Church of the Resurrection, Archimandrite Aristovoulos, sang in the presence of a large crowd piously praying for the grace and help of Christ and the mediation of St Basil.
Mass was followed by a procession around the Holy Shrines, carrying the holy relic of St Basil’s right hand, which is kept in the Sacristy of the Church of the Resurrection.
After the procession, His Beatitude cut St Basil’s pie at the Office of the Elder Sacristan.
In the morning, His Beatitude visited the Monastery of St Basil to venerate, in the course of the divine Liturgy led by Archimandrite Claudius, Abbot at the Monastery of the Holy Cross. At noon, He joined the Hagiotaphite Fathers to lunch.
From the Secretariat-General
