On the 24th of June (7th of July) the Orthodox Church celebrates the feast of the Birth of the Forerunner of our Lord, St. John the Baptist. Celebration of this great feast of the Church took place in the Chapel of the 1st and 2nd Finding of the Precious Head of St. John at the Convent of the Ascension of the Lord on the Mount of Olives. The solemn services were led by the Head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem, archimandrite Roman (Krassovsky). Concelebrating with Fr. Roman were archimandrite Innokenty (Sereda), abbot Iona (Galishikov) and deacon Vyacheslav Batalsky. Abbess Barbara (Novikova) prayed with the sisterhood of the convent.
