On Monday December 1/14, the day of the commemoration of St. Philaret the Merciful, the patronal feast of the refectory church of the Ascension Convent on the Mount of Olives was celebrated. The church of Righteous Philaret was prepared and decorated with flowers by the sisters. Archimandrite Roman (Krassovsky), the head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission, served at the All-Night Vigil and Divine Liturgy, accompanied by the clergy of the monastery – Archimandrite Vasily (Druzhinets), Abbot Jonah (Galishnikov) and Deacon Vyacheslav Batalsky. The abbess of the convent, Mother Varvara (Novikova), prayed with the sisters of the monastery. At the all-night vigil, the abbess of the Gornensky convent, mother Ekaterina (Chernysheva), attended with some of her sisters to pray with the Mount of Olives sisters at the temple feast.
After the Divine Liturgy, a moleben was served to St. Philaret with a solemn procession around the church accompanied by the joyous bells of the “Russian candle”.
