Metropolitan Vladimir of Chisinau and Moldova is participating these days in pilgrimage to the Holy Land, accompanied by His Grace Vicar Bishop Ioan of Soroca and a group of priests and lay Christians.
Thus, on the 28th Sunday after the Pentecost, the first hierarch of the Orthodox Church of Moldova, Metropolitan Vladimir, celebrated Divine Liturgy in Jerusalem, on the place where Most Pure Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary met Blessed Elisabeth, the mother of Holy Prophet and Forerunner John Baptist. Currently, monastery of Kazan Icon of Mother of God is built on the mentioned site.
The Metropolitan was assisted at the Divine Service by Vicar Bishop Ioan of Soroca, archimandrite Nicolae (Rosca), Confessor-Administrator of Ciuflea Monastery in Chisinau, archimandrite Serafim (Prinos), Monk Superior of Monastery of Chistelnita, archimandrite Kiril (Braguta), Monk Superior of the Monastery of Hirjauca, archpriest Oleg vieru, director of the Orthodox Pilgrimage centre in Chisinau, and other priests, who prayed together with the lay Christians participating in the pilgrimage.
After the Divine Liturgy, the pilgrims visited the Church of Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Galilee, built in 1931 by the Greek Patriarchy of Jerusalem on the shore of Galilee Sea, where the Saviour Jesus Christ chose His disciples.
After a service for the commemoration of the reposed, officiated by Bishop Ioan, the group of pilgrims headed for the Monastery of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary the Magdalene of the Russian Patriarchate, built in 1962 on the shore of Galilee Sea.
The pilgrimage started on 6 December, and the group is expected to arrive back in Moldova on 13 December.
Synodal Sector of Institutional Communication and Mass-Media Relations.
