Holy Land November 2022
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Pilgrimage has been popular among believers since ancient times: in the past, people used to walk for months to reach monasteries and churches or to meet with all-knowing elders. And for many, this was a unique experience, so they prepared for a long journey in advance, worked on their spirituality, and prayed.
Even today, pilgrimage is not just a tourist trip to holy places described in the Bible. First of all, this is a spiritual act of a believer. On such trips, we can change our entire life, see the start of powerful changes for the better inside ourselves, and gain spiritual strength. It’s good to visit holy places with an organized group of Orthodox people accompanied by a priest.
From November 2 to 11, 2022, a pilgrimage group from Estonia visited the Holy Land. 24 believers from the parishes Estonian Orthodox Church and Helsinki, together with the priest of the Lasnamae church, Father Grigory Borisov, arrived in Tel Aviv to visit places related to the history of salvation of Christians: Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Mount Tabor, Nazareth, Capernaum, the place of the Sermon on the Mount, Cana of Galilee, Gornenskiy Monastery founded at the place where the Virgin Mary and Elizabeth met (see Luke 1:39-56), Gethsemane, the Cenacle (the Upper Room in mount Zion), and many other places, monasteries, and churches.
The Lord blessed us with good weather: it was moderately hot and sometimes rainy, which is optimal for people living in the Baltic Sea region. Our guide in Jerusalem, Judea, and Galilee was an experienced guide from St. Petersburg, Yulia. She lived in the Gornenskiy Monastery for several years and didn’t only study the history and geography of the Holy Land but also absorbed the spirit of the biblical events that took place there.
The part of the trip that included attending church services deserves special mention. In general, the pilgrims lived a very full and rich Eucharistic life during the week they spend in Israel. The day after our arrival, we joined the patronal feast at the Gornenskiy Monastery, which was headed by Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, chairman of the DECR. Also, a unique prayer experience was the night liturgy inside the Holy Sepulchre, which is held in the Kuvukliya, after which Orthodox believers from all parts of the world can partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.
The spiritual conclusion of our pilgrim trip was the early divine liturgy in the Cave of the Nativity of Christ, located in the Basilica of the Nativity. The church was within the walking distance from the hotel of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission where we’d been comfortably living for almost the entire time of our pilgrimage.
Leaving the Holy Land is not easy. Still being there, you already feel nostalgia and the desire to come back… Let’s hope that the Lord will bless our righteous aspiration and allows us to visit His homeland again and again!
Father Grigory