A memorial service for Patriarch Timotheos of Jerusalem was served on this day at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Sign in New York in 1956. Metropolitan Anastassy (Gribanovskii), the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad (1936–1964), knew the Orthodox East quite well. When, in 1918, the Romanian authorities prohibited him from returning to his diocese of Chisinau, Archbishop Anastassy settled in Constantinople. From there, he visited British Palestine, where, in 1921, he participated in the consecration of the future Patriarch Timotheos (Themelis). Below is a translation from Pravoslavnaia Rusʹ 1 (1956): “According to news received from the Holy Land, on December 18/31 of last year, the long-ill elder Patriarch of Jerusalem Timotheos reposed in the Lord. “On Sunday December 19/January 1, 1956, in the Synodal Church of the Sign of the Most Holy Theotokos in New York, after the liturgy, a memorial service was celebrated for the newly deceased Patriarch Timotheos. The pannikhida was served by Metropolitan Anastassy and Bishop Averky, with the clergy of the cathedral concelebrating. The memorial service was preceded by a sermon by Metropolitan Anastassy. The Metropolitan warmly remembered the deceased, whom he had taken part in consecrating during his time in the Holy Land. Vladyka Anastassy noted his particularly attentive and cordial attitude towards the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Palestine, which continued until very recently. Invariably, every time, through the pilgrims visiting the Holy Land, the deceased Patriarch conveyed to the Metropolitan expressions of his special love and respect, and just shortly before his death, he visited our convent on the Mount of Olives with special solemnity. May his memory be eternal! Source: FaceBook group Internet-Sobor. |
