“When when the Comforter is come, Whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me; and ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with Me from the beginning” (John 15: 26-27).

“On this glorious day all the nations beheld strange things in the city of David, when the Holy Spirit descended in fiery tongues” (stichira of praises).

On this festive day, when the Holy Church celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit – the blessed Comforter – on the apostles and through them, upon us, festal services were solemnly held in the Holy City of Jerusalem,.

All the churches of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission, as in the Russian tradition, were decorated with greenery and flowers.

The head of the Mission, Archimandrite Roman (Krasovsky), along with Archimandrites Vasily (Druzhinets), Innocent (Sereda), Igumen Iona (Galishnikov) and Deacon Vyacheslav (Batalsky), led the all-night vigil. The evening service is filled with favorite chants of Orthodox Christians – Come, O people, let us worship the Godhead in three Persons: – We have seen the True Light: and of course – O Heavenly King: which is sung for the first time in church since the end of Great Lent.

On Sunday morning, the Head of the Mission was solemnly greeted, and after that the Divine Liturgy began. According to the Typicon, Vespers was served at once after the Liturgy with the prescribed three prayers written by St. Basil the Great. Abbess Varvara (Novikova), along with the sisters of the convent and those worshiping in the church, prayed on bended knee.

Experiencing the joys of this feastday, let us remember the priestly blessing with the words: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all!”.

 

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