The service of the Lamentations of the Theotokos at the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem
On Saturday 14/27 August 2022, on the Forefeast of the Dormition, the service of the Lamentations of the Theotokos – a unique service of the Church of Jerusalem – was held at the Church of the Dormition in Gethsemane, where the Tomb of the Theotokos lies, after an all-night vigil which was officiated by the Master of Ceremonies of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Archimandrite Bartholomew.
For this service, the Hagiotaphite Brotherhood marched down Via Dolorosa from the Patriarchate Headquarters, and after a short rest at the Hegoumeneion of Gethsemane, the welcoming reception began at the courtyard of the shrine with lit candles and incense offering under the chanting of the Apolytikion of the Dormition. The service was held at the centre of the Church, before the Epitaph of the Mother of God, presided over by His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, along with Hagiotaphite Hierarchs and Hieromonks, following the Typikon order with the three stasis of the Lamentations, with the incense offering inside the Tomb and around the Church and the chapels in it.
After the completion of the third stasis, the Geronda Secretary-General, His Eminence Archbishop Aristarchos of Constantina delivered the following Sermon:
“Your Beatitude, Father and Master,
Reverend Chorea of Hierarchs,
Your Excellency, Consul General of Greece,
Reverend Fathers
Christian congregation of the Lord
Gathered today, on the eve of the Dormition of the Theotokos around her sacred monument, we remember not only what is connected with her Dormition, but also what from the beginning is connected with her immaculate face. We remember all that the Church received from her and from the Apostles and teaches them to us through its Holy God-bearing Fathers. We engrave anew in our memory that the Theotokos was a gift of God to her childless and godly parents, Joachim and Anna, and to all humanity. That she was the fruit of their natural conjugal relationship and that her conception was not immaculate, that is, she was not free from the original sin and its consequences, which is death. The Mother of God inherited from the Forefather only the original sin and she had no personal sin nor disposition or inclination for it. For the exceeding and surpassing purity and cleanness of her life, God chose her, destined her, to become a vessel of His grace. With the goodwill and providence of God, when she was three years old, she was kept in the Holy of Holies of the Temple of Solomon and then she was given by the Priests to the sober and righteous Joseph to protect her virginity.
“When the fullness of time came”, God called her to become His accomplice in the work of regeneration, rebirth, renovation and salvation of man. Through the mouth of the Archangel Gabriel, he addressed her with the address that no mortal has ever heard, “Rejoice, thou who art full of grace” and asked her to become the mother of His only-begotten Son and Word, Who alone with Him is without beginning. To her question, “how will this be done, since I do not know a man”, she received the answer, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most-High will overshadow you”. When with trust and free and indiscriminate obedience she answered, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, let it be unto me according to Thy word,” then she lent her flesh to God, then, “along with the bodiless voice,” the bodiless took flesh, the bodiless became flesh, the second person of the Holy Trinity, Jesus Christ our God, became man, God and became man, God-man, “in one hypostasis and with two natures, wills and actions”…
This news was originally published on the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem official website. Please click here to read the full text.
