RUSSIAN ECCLESIASTICAL MISSION IN JERUSALEM: November 3, 2006
The Consecration of an Icon of Holy Martyr Elizabeth at the "Russian Excavations"

On November 1, in the Church of St Alexander Nevsky at the "Russian Excavations" in Jerusalem, the 25 th anniversary of the glorification of the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia was celebrated. On this day, two great Russian saints were born: St John of Kronstadt and Holy Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth. By coincidence, this was also the day that the new icon-frame for St Elizabeth was ready, who after the tragic death of her husband, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich in 1905, assumed his role as President of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (IPPO), until the Revolution of 1917. The members of the OPS have long desired to make a proper gift to the holy martyr. Now a generous donor from Ekaterinburg was found, through whose efforts an icon-frame of semi-precious stones from the Ural Mountains set in silver was prepared, and an icon painted in Jerusalem. Many guests arrived for the celebration. Divine Liturgy was served by Hegumen Andronik (Kotliaroff), the Deputy Chief of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem. The nuns of Gethsemane Convent sang. A group of pilgrims from Russia attended, many of whom traveled from Ekaterinburg. Among the guests was also Archimandrite Tikhon, the new Head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission of the Moscow Patriarchate. A trapeza was then offered within the walls of St Alexander podvorie.