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On 27 July 2012, Archbishop Theophanis of Gerash (Patriarchate of Jerusalem) celebrated the Divine Liturgy at Golgotha. Concelebrating with Archbishop Theophanis were Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York, the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia; Metropolitan Sergiy of Ternopol and Kremenets; Archbishop Mark of Berlin, Germany and Great Britain; Archbishop Feodosiy of Polotsk and Glubokoye; clergymen of the Church of Jerusalem; and ordained participants in the 5th Congress of the Fellowship of Orthodox Youth, website of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem reports.

Praying at the Liturgy were young representatives of the Local Orthodox Churches.

The Fellowship was formed to establish multilateral cooperation and spiritual fellowship of the Orthodox youth from various countries. Its 1st annual Congress was held in 2008. The opening and the closing of the Congresses take place at the Kursk-Root Hermitage where the Kursk-Root Icon of Our Lady was found.

On 14 July 2012, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia addressed the organizers and participants in the 5th International Congress of the Fellowship of Orthodox Youth, saying in particular: “Meeting with clergymen and cultural figures, celebrating the Sacraments together, visiting holy places, and praying together – all this gives the young faithful a feeling of special unity, unity in spirit and thought (cf. 1 Cor. 1:10), and contributes to the strengthening of fraternal relations between our Churches.”

Traditionally, the participants in the Congress visit the Orthodox shrines together. This year representatives of the Orthodox youth visit churches and monasteries in Russia and the Holy Land. “I hope that while venerating the greatest Christian shrine, the Holy Sepulchre, you will have a profound feeling of timeless and spaceless nature of Christ’s Gospel that comforts hearts and unites all the faithful”, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church said in his address.