Solemn Celebration of the Feast of Theophany in Jerusalem

The Feast of Theophany was celebrated at the Patriarchate of Jerusalem on Monday, 6th/19th January 2026. On this day, the Church recalls with gratitude and thanksgiving that our Lord Jesus Christ, though sinless, accepted Baptism in the River Jordan, so that through His Baptism He might deliver all humanity from ancestral sin, renew it from corruption, and lead it into the freedom of the children of God. When the Lord was baptised in the River Jordan by John the Baptist, He came up immediately from the water, as One who had no sin. In the Baptism of the Lord we have the testimony of the Holy Trinity: the Son being baptised, the Spirit descending in the form of a dove, confirming the certainty of the word, and the voice of the Father saying, “And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). For this feast, the Holy Sepulchre Brotherhood went through the staircase of the Church of Saint James the Brother of God to the Catholicon of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, led by our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos. There, in accordance with the order of the Church for the 6th of January, the Patriarch celebrated the Great Blessing of the Waters. His Beatitude sanctified the water by immersing the Cross and chanting three times, “When Thou, O Lord, wast baptised in the Jordan,” and, “Today Thou hast appeared unto the world, and Thy light, O Lord, has been marked upon us,” and he sanctified the Hierarchs, the Priests, and the faithful people. Immediately after the conclusion of the Blessing of the Waters, the festive Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great was celebrated at the Most Holy and Life-giving Tomb by the Patriarch , concelebrated with the visiting Hierarchs: His Eminence Metropolitan Panteleimon of Xanthi and Peritheorion and Metropolitan Theologos of Serres of the Church of Greece; the Hierarchs of the Holy Sepulchre Brotherhood, their Eminences; Metropolitan Hesychios of Capitolias; the Elder Chief Secretary, Archbishop Aristarchos of Constantina; Archbishop Nektarios of Anthedon and Archbishop Philoumenos of Pella; Metropolitan Theodosios of Tomis of the Church of Romania; many Hieromonks of the Holy Sepulchre Brotherhood residing in Jerusalem, among them the Elder of Kamarasis, Archimandrite Nektarios; representatives of the Patriarchate of Moscow and the Patriarchate of Romania, Archimandrite Ioannis; and many Priests visiting from Greece, Russia, Romania, Georgia, and Serbia, in the presence of the Consul General of Greece in Jerusalem, Mr Dimitrios Angelosopoulos, and Mrs Anna Mantika. After the Divine Liturgy, the Patriarch sanctified the congregation with the Precious Cross containing the Honourable Wood and sprinkled them with the water of the Blessing. After the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, the Patriarchal entourage returned to the Patriarchate, where the Patriarch conveyed to all his wishes for the illumination by the Father of Lights.