A monument to the Holy Prophet David to be opened on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem

Press service of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission reports the arrival in the Holy Land of a delegation consisting of 140 persons from the St Nicholas the Miracle-Worker Foundation headed by its president A. Bykov with the purpose to open a monument to the prophet and psalmist David on Mt Zion in Jerusalem.

The delegation includes over forty priests of the Russian Orthodox Church and seven hierarchs. They are Metropolitans Isidor of Yekaterinodar and Kuban and Sergy of Voronezh and Borisoglebsk, Archbishops Gabriil of Blagoveschensk and Tynda, Ignaty of Petropavlovsk and Kamchatka, Panteleimon of Rostov and Novocherkassk, Prokl of Simbirsk and Melekess, and bishop Tikhon of Archangelsk and Kholmogory. Among the members of the delegation are archpriest Dimitry Smirnov, chairman of the Synodal Department for Relations with the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement agencies, and representatives of Mayor’s Office of Bari, Italy.

On October 4, the day of their arrival, the clerics took part in the All-Night Vigil in the Cathedral of the Trinity of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem and were welcomed by the head of the Mission, archimandrite Tilkon (Zaitsev).

On Sunday, October 5, metropolitan Isidor of Yekaterinodar and Kuban officiated at the Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of the Gorny Convent. Other archpastors, the head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission archimandrite Tikhon and many clerics concelebrated.

On Monday, October 6, the delegation was received in audience by His Beatitude Theophilus III, Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem and All Palestine.

The president of the Foundation A. Bykov presented the Church of Jerusalm with a sculpture of the Saviour and a reduction copy of the monument to King David.

On October 7, the monument is to be blessed on Mt Zion at the tomb of the prophet, and official unveiling is to be performed in the evening.