« Pilgrimage of the parishioners of St. Nicholas church in Oxford to the Holy Land »

With the blessing of His Grace Bishop Matthew of Sourozh, a group of more than fifty parishioners of St. Nicholas church in Oxford made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land from February 11 to February 17, 2023.

Upon arrival to the Holy Land, the pilgrimage group settled in the Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem.  During the intense seven-day program, the pilgrims visited many holy places associated with the Gospel stories: Bethlehem, Nazareth, the Jordan River, Jericho and the Mount of Temptation, Capernaum, the Sea of Galilee and Mount Tabor.  In Jerusalem, the pilgrims walked the Way of the Cross, which ended in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where they venerated the places of the Crucifixion, Burial and Resurrection of the Savior.  Then the pilgrims visited the place of the Passion of the Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane, the place of His Ascension on the Mount of Olives, the tomb of the Most Holy Mother of God, as well as the Russian monasteries in Gethsemane and Mount of Olives.

Then the pilgrims went to Hebron, where Patriarch Abraham met three angels by the oak in the oak forest of Mamre, and to the desert Mar-Saba and St. Theodosius monasteries. The pilgrims visited many places associated with holy Christian ascetics and sacred events, where they prayed, sang hymns and read relevant passages from the Holy Scriptures corresponding to each such place.

When visiting the holy places, the pilgrims were greatly helped by the historical knowledge of their guide Sister Seraphima from the RSM Gornensky monastery in Jerusalem.

The pilgrims had the honor of being received by His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem, receiving his patriarchal blessing and celebrating the night Liturgy at the Holy Sepulchre.

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