The feast of the Exaltation of the Precious Cross was celebrated at the Patriarchate of Jerusalem

The feast of the Exaltation of the Precious Cross was celebrated post-feast on Sunday after the Exaltation, 4th October 2026, at the Holy Monastery of the Precious Cross, located in West Jerusalem near the Israeli Parliament (Knesset).

This practice has always been followed by the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, based on an ancient tradition that within the precincts of the Monastery, Lot, the nephew of Abraham, planted the tripartite wood of cedar, cypress, and pine, from which, when cut, the Precious Cross of Christ was constructed, whereupon our Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified for us, was nailed.

Depictions of this event are mounted in the chapel situated in the north-western section of the Church, in which the ceremony of the Exaltation of the Precious Cross is also performed each year.

For this occasion, Vespers was celebrated on the eve by the Hegumen, Archimandrite Christodoulos, and the Divine Liturgy on the morning, presided over by His Eminence Archbishop Dorotheos of Avila, co-celebrating with the Elder Dragoman Archimandrite Matthew, Archimandrite Ignatius, Archimandrite Claudius, Priest Athanasios, a visiting clergyman from the Holy Metropolis of Thebes and…