JERUSALEM: March 25, 2024
The First Week of Great Lent in the Holy Land

Regular divine services were held in the monasteries of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem (Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia) during the first week of Great Lent, beginning on Monday, March 18, 2024.

Morning services were held with readings by the Holy Fathers. Excerpts from the Ladder of St John Climacus, the works of St Ephraim the Syrian, and stories from the lives of ancient ascetics were read.

For the first three days, Archimandrite Roman (Krassovsky) served at the Ascension of the Savior Monastery on the Mount of Olives. Jerusalem, and the second half of the week at the Monastery of St Mary Magdalene, Equal-to-the-Apostles, in the Garden of Gethsemane. In the evenings at Great Compline, Archimandrite Roman read the Great Penitential Canon of St Andrew of Crete. On Wednesday and Friday, the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts was performed.

The sisters of the convents fasted all week and communed with Holy Communion on Theodore Saturday, which this year coincided with the feast of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste. On this significant day, Archimandrite Roman turned 65 years old. At the end of the service, the concelebrants and sisters of the convent congratulated the Father Superior.

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