The Eve of the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos at the Greek Patriarchate of Jerusalem
With a Cross-Resurrectional ethos, today, Wednesday, the 14th/27th of August 2025, at 7.30 p.m., on the Eve of the Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos, the Holy Sepulchre Brotherhood marched in procession from the Central Monastery to the Holy Shrine of Gethsemane for the Epitaph service, the Lamentations for the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos.
This most moving, majestic, and in many respects unique ceremony has held its place in the Church order and the Status Quo of the Church of Jerusalem for a long time.
This service was preceded by an All-Night Vigil, on the night of the 13th to the 14th of August 2025, at the Holy Tomb of the Theotokos, presided over by the Hegoumen of the Shrine, His Eminence Metropolitan Joachim of Helenoupolis.
This holy procession, accompanied in honour by the Consul General of Greece in Jerusalem, Mr Dimitrios Angelosopoulos, solemnly passed through the Old City of Jerusalem from west to east along the Via Dolorosa. At the Holy Monasteries on the way, each Hegumen was waiting to greet those in the procession: at Saint Charalambos, the Hegoumen, Archimandrite Amphilochios; at the Praetorium, the Hegoumen, Archimandrite Dionysios; at the Holy Monastery of the Holy Ancestors Joachim and Anna, the Hegoumen, Archimandrite Meletios; and at the Holy Monastery of Saint Stephen, beyond the walls at the beginning of the Valley of Josaphat, the Hegoumen, Archimandrite Epiphanios.
When the holy procession reached Gethsemane, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III vested and blessed the Holy Entrance, and immediately thereafter the procession descended by the steps into the middle of the Church, while the chanters sang: “In thy birth thou didst preserve thy virginity…”. There, His Beatitude, together with the Hierarchs and Priests, venerated the Theotokos’ Tomb and vested in their hierarchical and priestly vestments, while the chief cantor of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Deacon Eustathios, chanted: “Of old the prophets aforetime proclaimed thee…”.
When His Beatitude had given the blessing, the Epitaph of the Theotokos was transferred from the chapel of the Platytera to the middle of the Church, and the service of the Lamentations began, according to the established Church order, in three stases.
In the first of these stases, the Patriarch censed the Tomb and the congregation, while in the second and third, the Hierarchs did so.
After the Lauds, the Elder Chief-Secretary, His Eminence Archbishop Aristarchos of Constantina, delivered the Sermon of the day in Greek, before a congregation consisting of monks, nuns, locals, and a few pilgrims, as follows:
“Your Beatitude, Father and Master,
Reverend Chorea of Hierarchs,
Your Excellency, the Consul General of Greece,
Reverend Fathers,
Pious Pilgrims,
Venerable, solemn, and sacred—yet at once contrite and joyful—is the feast which the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Orthodox Church throughout the world keeps today in forefeast. The Church celebrates the glorious Dormition of our most blessed and all-glorious Lady, the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary. Yet the Mother of Churches, the holy Zion, “which first received remission of sins by the Resurrection,” observes this feast in a special manner; for here the Theotokos, fruit of the womb of the once-barren and holy Ancestors of God Joachim and Anna, was born, lived, fell asleep in the Lord, was buried in the soil of the Holy Land, and from hence was translated into the heavens…
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This news was originally published on the website of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, click here to read more.