II. Праздник Богоявления Господня на реке Иордан и в Св. граде Иеруеалим

Christmastide in Jerusalem is boring and monotonous for the Russian pilgrim, who is accustomed to spending it cheerfully and even riotously in his homeland. For almost two whole weeks, after the celebrations in Bethlehem, there are no holidays, with the exception of the New Year, when solemn patriarchal services are performed in holy places, providing both entertainment and the only consolation to our pilgrim. Thanks to sometimes continuous rains, and hence the inexorable Jerusalem mud, our pilgrims, willy-nilly, are forced to sit on Russian hospice buildings. But after the New Year, some revival is already noticeable in our shelters: pilgrims are beginning to little by little prepare for the journey to the Jordan for the upcoming feast of the Epiphany, stocking up on everything they need to properly complete this pilgrimage feat, which, together with receiving the sacred fire on Holy Saturday, is considered the most important and almost obligatory 19 for every true pilgrim to St. Land who wishes with full right to bear the honorary title “Haji,” often added by Orthodox Greeks, following the example of Muslims, to their names. In a time distant from us, the celebrations on the Jordan were not particularly distinguished by their splendor and brilliance, since the main character at them was the abbot of the Lavra of St. Savva the Sanctified with his monks, whose responsibility the Jerusalem Patriarchate entrusted with the care of the Orthodox pilgrims, who always flocked in large numbers on the feast of the Epiphany to the Jordan River, and with the deanery of the church celebration itself. In the half of the past century, the Epiphany festivities on the Jordan passed from the monks of the Savvinsky monastery to the Jordanian metropolitan and became the subject of his special concerns and concerns, since only once a year, precisely on this holiday, he was the actual archpastor of his non-existent diocese. In view of the difficulty of the road to the Jordan along the mountains and narrow paths and the dangers from the trans-Jordanian semi-wild Bedouins, who for selfish purposes attacked pilgrim caravans and sometimes even killed travelers, both the monks of the Savvinsky monastery and the Jordanian metropolitan with their spiritual retinue previously went to the Jordan on the fourth of January, accompanied kavas, an honorary military convoy, guides of sheikhs - the chiefs of the Jordanian nomadic Bedouin tribes - all on horseback. The sheikhs, on their fast horses, decorated with headdresses and other headdresses, performed all sorts of “fantasies”, as on the feast of the Nativity of Christ, for the entertainment and pleasure of honored travelers. At the end of the eighties of the last century, the Jordanian monasteries of St. Gerasimos, John the Baptist and George Chozebite, thanks to the energetic and persistent efforts of His Beatitude Patriarch Nicodemus I, now retired on Halki near Constantinople, with the material assistance of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society 20, were restored and brought into splendid form, thanks to which the Jordanian deserts, until then, were revived and populated would be uninhabited. Bedouin robberies and robberies on this side of the Jordan towards ancient Jericho or the present small village of Erich became a rare and almost unheard of phenomenon. In 1898, for the arrival of the current German Emperor Wilhelm II, the Turkish government built a highway to the Jordan, and from that time on it became possible to easily and comfortably make pilgrimage trips in hired double-horse carriages. Now, therefore, the previous need for a reinforced convoy and for guides - sheikhs, has passed, and if, according to established custom, they still continue to enter caravans and trips, it is no more than for the honor of travelers and their entertainment along the way with all sorts of “fantasies.” To the Metropolitan of Jordan, who already has inhabited monasteries in his diocese, although they, by the way, are in the status of stauropegia in the hands of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and not the Metropolitan, there is now an opportunity to survey them. Because of this, it has now been accepted (it seems since 1890) that the Archbishop of Jordan with his clergy does not leave Jerusalem on the fourth of January, as before, but on the third, and goes straight to the monastery of St. Gerasimos. Here on the fourth of January he goes to the monastery of St. John. Forerunners, in order to serve the liturgy there early on the fifth morning and by 10 o’clock in the morning to get to the Jordan in the marching church, specially prepared for this celebration, to attend the great hours and liturgy of St. Basil the Great and to perform the rite of the great blessing of water. The marching church 21 is set up on the river bank by the episcopal clergy in advance and is a very decent wooden barracks, under an iron gable roof. Appropriate furnishings are also brought for this church. The same clergy will also build a wooden platform on the Jordan River, protruding far from the shore into the river, for the upcoming blessings of water and for the convenience of immersing the saint. cross in the streams of the sacred river. On the road to Jericho on the third and fourth of January, traders of food supplies and all kinds of sweets, deliberately leaving from Jerusalem, trudge along on donkeys and horses laden with luggage. Early on the morning of the fourth, a large caravan of admirers, who expressed their desire to be on the feast of Epiphany in the Jordan in advance, accompanied by the kawas of the Palestinian Society, black Arabs serving on our buildings, local sheikhs on horseback, with guns and spears on their shoulders, comes out singing spiritual hymns from Jerusalem from our Russian buildings from the pepper tree. One of the employees of the Society, some members of the spiritual mission and sometimes officials of the consulate go with the pilgrims, as the head of the caravan. Almost all day long, the caravan of Russian pilgrims is on the road, moving slowly along highway roads, with frequent stops for rest, for example, at the inn of the Good Samaritan (Khan Khasrur), and at other points, sometimes with a shed and a yard, and sometimes right in an open field. Late in the evening, our caravan enters the Arab village of Erich on the site of ancient Jericho, and, exhausted from the journey, after drinking tea and a dry snack, settles down for a sweet rest in a hospitable Russian shelter, built here through the efforts of the ever-memorable head of the Russian spiritual mission in Jerusalem, Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin) († 1894) with generous donations from the Russian people (lower floor) and the August Pilgrims of 1881, Grand Dukes Sergei and Pavel Alexandrovich (upper). Russian shelter in Jericho with the Zakhel tower. The next morning, on the eve of the Feast of Epiphany, the Russian caravan leaves the shelter of Fr. Antonina in Jericho and in the previous composition, past the dilapidated tower of Zacchaeus and the sycamore tree on which this righteous publican allegedly sat, wanting to see the Lord walking past (Luke 19:4), heads to the place of the baptism of the Savior, at least two hours away from here, along the flat Jordan valley. Here spring reigns at this time in all its enchanting charm. Luxurious vegetation turns the Jordan Valley into a blooming garden for this holiday, full of the most bizarre colorful colors and the strongest aroma. Approaching the Jordan, our caravan finds near the shore an already pitched camp tent-church and several other tents for the metropolitan, clergy, honored guests and visiting merchants. You can hear excitement everywhere, not much reminiscent of Christmas Eve and the day of fasting. Copper jugs boil everywhere in tents and outdoors, and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee wafts through the air. In some tents there are visiting pilgrims - Greeks, Bulgarians, Arabs, etc. they drink rakia (local vodka), snack on sweets and eat fried fish. With the arrival of the Russian caravan, the revival becomes even more noticeable. The Kawas and Arabs accompanying the caravan set up a tent for the head of the caravan, who kindly invites honored guests from the intelligentsia under its roof. Simple pilgrims, scattered along the banks of the Jordan, form picturesque groups here and there, resting right on the grass and sharing their experiences with each other. The sight of the Jordan River rushing its murky waves into the still Dead Sea is enchanting at this time of year. Its banks, covered in abundance with tamarisk, weeping willows and oleander bushes, are bordered, as it were, by a ribbon of yellow and blue flowers. The sight is amazing for the unaccustomed eye of a northerner, especially if from this enchanting beauty of spring he is mentally transported to his homeland, where there are bitter frosts at that time, where everything is covered with a snow-white shroud and bound with strong ice... The place of the baptism of the Lord (Mark 1:4; John 1:28) is now unknown with accuracy. But a legend coming from antiquity indicates this place near the monastery of St. John the Baptist, located near the Jordan River, is no more than half an hour away. At this place, the Jordan River makes a rather significant bend, somewhat slowing down its rapid flow, and has a bank with some elevation, convenient for those who want to descend to wash themselves in the cool streams of the sacred river. This place is sometimes called Bethavara or the crossing point 22, since it is convenient to ford the Jordan River here. Here, at the deepest point, the water in the river is no more than waist-deep for an adult man. However, not at every time of the year and not every traveler attempts to cross this fast-flowing river with impunity. During unexpected and quite frequent floods of the river, with the inability to hold on under the pressure of its fast currents that beat you down, and in view of the possibility of getting into a deep place, or at least one where the water reaches up to your neck, anyone who wades or swims through this river is exposed to great risk and even the danger of drowning. Several brave and experienced swimmers have already paid for their courage and found their grave in the stormy waves of the sacred river, as eloquently evidenced by the silent monuments erected here, and decent epitaphs placed on them, as a warning to visitors to the Jordan today. One of these inscriptions is even in the garden of our shelter in Jericho. It is not surprising, therefore, that our kavas, accompanying pilgrimage caravans to the Jordan, undertake to vigilantly monitor pilgrims and warn them about possible dangers when swimming in this river. At about 10 o'clock in the morning, in the presence of the Metropolitan of Jordan, standing in the throne, the clergy perform the hours of Patriarch Sophrony, and then immediately after them the Great Vespers with the blessing of bread, oil and wine, which are shared among the pilgrims, and the Liturgy of St. Vasily Velikago. At the end of it, the bishop in a mantle and omophorion with the clergy goes in procession to the wooden platform prepared on the Jordan to perform the great consecration of water established by the Church. When reading the third proverb: “Those who are thirsty, draw water with joy from the sources of salvation,” the bishop of the silver basin draws water from the Jordan River and places it on the prepared table in front of him. The prayers of water blessing are read by the bishop in front of this tub (vase). When the troparion is sung: “I am baptized in the Jordan, O Lord,” then the bishop immerses the saint. the cross is first in a silver vase, and then on a silk cord attached to it, throws it three times into the Jordan River 23 while pouring some of the water from the vase into it. At this time, those who wish, having extinguished the burning candles held in their hands during the blessing of water, plunge three times into the waves of the sacred river, but most pilgrims postpone this rite until the midnight blessing of water, when, according to legend, the baptism of the Lord by John took place. The immersion of the cross in water and the bathing of the worshipers is accompanied by rifle fire from the conductors, the release of a dove for a stronger impression, and lively, delighted cries of pilgrims and applause... After the Liturgy with Vespers, after drinking Jordanian consecrated water, our pilgrims scatter in different directions: some go to the shores of the Dead Sea and to the monastery of St. Gerasima, others walk along the banks of the Jordan in order to cut out poles from the local reeds “in memory” of the Jordan, or cut reeds, collect pebbles along the river bank, make crowns of thorns, collect “acrids” (a tasty field fruit like a cherry, yellow in color), which the saint ate in the Jordanian desert. John the Baptist (Mark 1:6; Matt. 3:4), pick flowers and generally enjoy nature, and still others, like people who have come to the Jordan not for the first time, in view of the upcoming night service and the tiresome return to Jerusalem, having refreshed themselves with “seagull”, warmed on dry reeds in a tin teapot, are resting peacefully on the lawns. The Metropolitan and the clergy and honorary pilgrims are resting in the tents set up here, preparing for the night vigil. Fans from Greeks and other nationalities have a more fun time 24. Not paying attention to fasting time and the eve of the great holiday, they drink raki, cognac, liqueurs, coffee, smoke a hookah, and treat themselves to a festive meal, having lively conversations among themselves, often broken through by noise and cheerful laughter... When dusk comes, the pilgrims begin to light bonfires in different places from dry reeds 25, and thousands of bright lights pierce the deep the darkness of a warm southern night. The noise of lively conversations and immodest laughter fills the air. Often the sounds of a cheerful song are heard somewhere to the accompaniment of a local balalaika. This is the type of visitors to the Epiphany festival and the Jordan River who have fun all night long and do not stop their playful pastime even when a modest call to the night festive worship is heard... At 12 o'clock in the evening, Epiphany Matins begins in the camp church, usually performed by the Metropolitan of Jordan with clergy of Greek nationality and some Russian priests who are on the lido among the pilgrims. Since the tent-church can barely accommodate the clergy and some honorary pilgrims under its canopy, all ordinary pilgrims stand in the open air, surrounding the church-tent in dense masses. The morning service is performed, according to the usual rite, in Greek and only in some cases litanies and exclamations are pronounced in Slavic, and therefore naturally soon begins to become boring with its monotony and monotony... Many of the pilgrims move away from the church tent and wander among the tents in which Christians of Eastern nationality spend their time, still lively and noisy, or go to the bank of the Jordan to choose a more comfortable place for swimming. Only pilgrims who wished to receive Holy Communion. During this liturgy, the Mysteries, in a dense line, reach out to the Metropolitan of Jordan, who, in his free time from participating in the service, sitting on an armchair, accepts those who wish to confess. By 2 o'clock in the morning, as the end of the morning service approaches, the numerous pilgrims who have come to the Jordan become more concentrated and silent. The solemn moment of this great night comes, for which everyone went to the sacred river. At this time, lively conversations and laughter even in the tents fall silent... After the great doxology, in a solemn procession from the church-tent with a cross, gospel, icons and candles, the Metropolitan and the clergy head to the bank of the Jordan, which at this time presents a new picture, difficult to describe. Our Russian pilgrims, even before the end of Matins, as we said, little by little leave the church-tent and take comfortable places in the Jordan River so that at the very moment of immersion of the cross they can wash themselves in its sacred streams and draw on the memory of this feast of St. water. A lot of effort and trouble with this large crowd falls at this time to the lot of the Kavas and Arabs of our Russian buildings. To protect places in the Jordan that are deep and dangerous due to its rapid flow, the Arabs usually form a human chain in the water, having a rope in their hands for this purpose. It is strictly forbidden for pilgrims to go beyond the line of this rope. When the church procession approaches the bridge, built for the convenience of immersing the cross in the streams of the Jordan, the entire river is already crowded with men and women in white shirts, which they deliberately prepare for this occasion, and with lit lamps in their hands. In the darkness of a warm southern night, this whole picture of various faces, illuminated by the fluctuating light of brightly burning candles, in white shirts, seems striking to the unaccustomed eye of the observer. All pilgrims with intense attention, with deep reverence and trembling of heart, standing in the cold streams of the 26 Jordan, listen to the rite of the Epiphany blessing of water, waiting for the moment of immersion of the cross, while joyfully singing: “I am baptized in the Jordan, O Lord.” But now this anxiously awaited moment of crucifixion has arrived. The entire crowd unanimously picks up the troparion of the holiday 27 sung by the clergy, resounding with powerful sounds of wondrous chants across the Jordanian plain, still immersed in the silent darkness of the night, and without waiting for the cross to be immersed three times in the water, it begins to quickly plunge into the sacred streams, drink handfuls of them and fill their flasks, bottles, jugs 28 etc. with them, capturing from under your feet from the bottom of the river as a memory and its pebbles. The talk and noise of a joyfully and even enthusiastically inclined crowd, mingling with the shouts of Arabs and Kavass, warning pilgrims about the dangers and hastening them to the shore, drowns out the sounds of church chants completed by the clergy of the rite of blessing of water. Our pilgrims little by little come ashore, take off their white shirts, fill their pilgrim bags with relics from the Jordan River and rush to take a better place near the church tent. Here, immediately after the blessing of water, the bishop's liturgy begins, during which the vast majority of them partake of the Holy Spirit. Tain. This Liturgy is sung mostly in Slavonic by our pilgrims; on it the Apostle and the Gospel of the holiday are read in Slavonic and litanies and exclamations are pronounced, and therefore it makes a deep impression on everyone. The writer of these lines cannot keep silent about another amazing phenomenon, which he witnessed in 1888, and which made a truly stunning impression on many who were at this celebration. As they say, this phenomenon often repeats itself. The sounds of the church hymns of the Epiphany blessing of water had barely died down, the noisy delights of the reverently disposed crowd of pilgrims, who were unwilling to part with the streams of blessed waters, had not yet subsided, and the coercive cries of the Arabs and Kavass, who were hurrying the swimmers who had hesitated in the Jordan, had not yet subsided, when, to the amazement of all the pilgrims, the Jordan River quickly began overflow with muddy waves of cold streams, which, overflowing their banks, quickly flooded the adjacent plain 29. The feeling of reverent amazement, inspired by folk stories about the miraculous overflow of the Jordan River, which supposedly repeats itself annually on the night of Epiphany, in remembrance of the baptism of the Lord, was replaced by pious pilgrims with fear that the overflowing waters would not flood even the church-tents... Therefore, the service in the camp church quickly ended, and the clergy hastily put its accessories into chests and bags to be sent back to Jerusalem for storage until next year... Russian pilgrims on the river Jordan during the Epiphany Blessing of Water A caravan of Russian pilgrims, accompanied by Kavass and Arabs, sometimes heads from the Jordan straight to Jerusalem after the liturgy, without even stopping at our shelter in Jericho to rest, as it is in a hurry to arrive in Jerusalem in the evening. As for Metropolitan Epiphany and the clergy, after the solemn service they all go to rest at the monastery of St. John the Baptist, where many of our pilgrims come for them, refusing to join the caravan returning to Jerusalem. For all their guests, the hospitable monks of the Jordanian monastery, which celebrates their church holiday (nanigir) the next day, prepare refreshments and lunch. The Metropolitan and the clergy, however, do not stay here for the celebration, but after rest and dinner, visiting the Church of St. Prophet Elisha, created at the expense of the Russian philanthropist and admirer of Patriarch Nicodemus A.D. Bogdanova, goes to the monastery on the Forty Days Mountain where, according to legend, the Lord Jesus Christ spent forty days and forty nights in fasting and was tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1–4; Luke 4:1–5). Here he serves the solemn liturgy on January 7. Monastery of St. John the Baptist near Jordan Our pilgrims, having spent the night in the shelter of the spiritual mission in Jericho and having rested from the fatigue of the sleepless previous night, are partly present at the festive service in the monastery of St. John the Baptist, but most also go to the Forty Day Mountain 30. From here, after the liturgy and appropriate refreshments, together with the metropolitan they all go to the monastery of St. George Khozevit, since our Church celebrates the memory of this saint on January 8th. This monastery, nestled in the gorge of a deep cliff near the El-Kelt or Khorafa stream, founded in the 5th century, is associated with a legend about the appearance of an angel here to St. Joachim the Godfather with the joyful news of the conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary from him. The dilapidated mosaics that exist on the walls of this church no later than the 12th century undoubtedly speak of this Christian tradition going back centuries. Cave of the fasting of Jesus Christ After the solemn bishop's service in the monastery of St. George Khozevita, having refreshed himself at the monastery meal, our pilgrims, under the leadership of the “traversed” and “experienced" of their comrades, are already preparing for the return journey to Jerusalem. But, alas, their return to the hospitable shelter of Russian buildings is not always as successful as they were on the Jordan in the caravan organized by the Palestine Society. Hardly stragglers and belated pilgrims will cross from the monastery along a bridge hanging over the abyss of the noisy stream of Horath, where the prophet Elijah allegedly hid from the wicked Jezebel (1 Kings 17:3), onto the steep rocks and will go out onto the Jericho road, as here often, instead of the Jordanian warmth and the delights of spring, they are greeted by all the horrors of the reigning in all the strength of Jerusalem's fairy tales. severe winter. A piercing cold wind often blows with such force with heavy rain and hail, and sometimes snow in the mountains that horses and pack mules refuse to go against the wind. The terrible howl of the storm brings horror and despondency even to those lucky ones who managed to reach a warm and protected shelter in time. Fear and despair seize the tired pilgrims, caught by this bad weather on the way and forced to wander through the impenetrable clayey mud with extreme strain on their weak physical strength. Monastery of St. George Khozevit. But thank God, good-hearted people are energetically awake at this time and are in a hurry to rescue our poor pilgrims, wet and frozen to the core, from imminent death. From the brightly lit bell tower of the Greek monastery, called “Meeting”, since it was built opposite Bethany, 6 versts from Jerusalem, on the place where, according to legend, the Lord met with Martha, the sister of the righteous Lazarus, on the fourth day after his death (John 11:20, 30, 32), is heard at this terrible time an incessant bell of invitation, carried by the wind and encouragingly affecting pilgrims who are tired, who have lost their way and who are already despairing of their salvation. The energetic and handsome archimandrite of the monastery Gregory, full of compassion for the plight of the poor pilgrims, sends his novices with lanterns to the mountains around the monastery to look for those who have lost their way and bring them to the monastery, where the elder himself, without closing his eyes all night, prepares boiling water for tea for the chilled, wet, hungry and tired pilgrims, prepares hot food and a warm bed, often giving it to his guests all their own and even brotherly clothes. Braziers (copper basins with a stand) with burning coals keep his monastery cells warm throughout the night. Knowing about the horrors and hardships that our pilgrims have to experience when returning from the Jordan at this time of year, our employees in Jerusalem at the Russian farmsteads of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society are not idle. By order of our manager of the farmsteads, on such stormy winter nights and even during the day, when, according to his assumptions, our caravans or at least even small groups of pilgrims may be on the road, carriages are sent to them on the road to Jericho for the tired, warm blankets and linen for those wet and cold on the road, and food for the hungry. Sometimes a paramedic is sent there with medicines to provide first aid to those in need. With tears of joy and simple sincere words of gratitude coming from the depths of an excited heart, the Russian pious pilgrim pays his benefactors for their affection, greetings, warm shelter and saving his life, the preservation of which he had already begun to doubt. Without a sigh or pity, he places and carries his last penny of labor to such monasteries and institutions, dooming himself to all kinds of hardships. Those who selflessly and disinterestedly decided to devote themselves to serving the highly humane feat of hospitality do not go unnoticed. The Archimandrite Gregory we mentioned, the rector of the Bethany monastery of the Meeting, on the representation of the August Chairman of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna, for his philanthropic and humane attitude towards our pilgrim caravans, as witnessed by the managers of the Society's farmsteads in Jerusalem, in On the 29th day of April 1907, the Sovereign Emperor assigned him to the Order of St. Anna 3rd degree. From the description we have presented of the festivities of the Epiphany on the Jordan River, it is clearly clear that the head of the Zion Church, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, never took part in the celebrations of the present event celebrated by the Christian Church, and he does not go to these celebrations to this day, remaining in Jerusalem with his entire synod, the Jerusalem Orthodox inhabitants and with those of the strangers - pilgrims who, for some reason, were deprived of the opportunity to get there on this day to the Jordan. Therefore, it will not be without interest to add here some details of the Epiphany service and the great blessing of water performed by the patriarch in the Holy Sepulcher Church. On the eve of Epiphany, the royal hours, vespers with the blessing of the loaves and the liturgy with the great blessing of water are performed by one of the synodal bishops in the Church of St. Jacob, the brother of the Lord, located opposite the Avraamievsky Monastery, at the entrance to the Holy Sepulcher Church. The Patriarch is present at these services and stands in the throne, or goes to the Patriarchal Monastery of Sts. kings Constantine and Helena. Festive Matins takes place at midnight in the Church of the Resurrection and, in addition to the Patriarch, all the synodal bishops are present, and they all take direct part in the reading and singing of the canons and stichera. After the great doxology, the patriarch performs the entrance ceremony with all the clergy who have the liturgy with him, dresses in the throne in full sacred attire and begins to perform the rite of the great blessing of water. In the middle of the Church of the Resurrection, for this blessing of water, an oblong elevated platform is built, surrounded by bars on all sides except the western one, from which the patriarch and everyone who participates in concelebration with him, except the bishops, ascend the steps to this platform. In the middle of the platform, a water-blessing table is placed on an elevation of several steps, covered with a shroud and decorated with a large exalted cross with a particle of the Life-giving Tree of the Lord, icons, ripids and candlesticks. Three silver vessels filled with water are placed under the shade of these shrines. While singing the stichera: “The voice of the Lord speaks on the waters,” the patriarch, dressed in vestments, goes from the throne to the described church platform. He is preceded by four deacons with dikyries and trikyries. The Patriarch, standing before the water-blessing table, takes the censer and begins to cense the vessels with water, the altar, the iconostasis and the entire church and people, and then stands in the throne. The oldest and most amiable deacon takes the blessing from the patriarch, stands on the platform in front of the water-blessing table and slowly, solemnly, in a loud voice sings the stichera: “Today Christ will come to the Jordan to be baptized,” after which, changing his voice, he pronounces the longevity (φημή) in the following form: “Confirm, Lord God, the holy and immaculate faith of pious and Orthodox Christians with this holy abode forever and ever." Those present finish: “Amen.” Then he reads a long, florid prayer appeal: “And what is this? Again, the Feast of the Lord is devouring us. Packs to see the sacraments,” etc., at the end of which wishes are expressed to the patriarch “for the years of Methuselah, he will not hesitate to be established on his most holy apostolic and patriarchal throne,” many years and to all “the most reverend holy bishops of this patriarchal throne, the most reverend holy archimandrites and proto-sinkels with the most venerable elder skeuophylax (now Arch. Euthymius) to the most reverent hieromonks, and protodeacons, and the most venerable and venerable elders who make up the famous brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchers, the most honest and most God-loving leaders, elders and followers of the All-Holy and Life-Giving Sepulcher.” The proverbs that follow are read by the deacon, and the gospel by the patriarch on a platform arranged in front of the holy bowls. In addition to the usual prayers prescribed in the rite, the patriarch reads a special prayer to the Most Holy Trinity: “To the Trinity, all-important, most blessed, most divine.” At the words of the prayer pronounced by the patriarch: “Great art thou, Lord,” the singers sing: “Glory to Thee, Lord, glory to Thee.” When the words are pronounced: “You are more philanthropic than the King,” the patriarch immerses his fingers in all three vessels, but always changing their order, which is then done when immersing the cross in them, while singing the troparion: “I am baptized in the Jordan to You, O Lord.” Having then sprinkled, while singing the stichera: “Let us sing of faith,” St. with water the altar, the church and the people, the patriarch goes along with the bishops and a few priests to the edicule of the Holy Sepulcher and begins the liturgy, after which the apostle and the gospel, litanies and exclamations, as well as many hymns are pronounced in Slavic. The Russian and Greek consuls and many pilgrims - homebodies - come to this service. After the liturgy, they all go to the patriarchate, where the patriarch offers them the usual treat in the East. Traveling to the Jordan to bathe in its sacred waters has become mandatory for our pilgrims, so much so that those of them who, for whatever reason, did not get to the Jordan on the day of Epiphany, consider it an indispensable duty for themselves to be here to perform it on one of the first days of Holy Week and certainly before receiving the Holy Mysteries on Great Thursday. ) At the disposal of the Patriarch, “for the construction of churches in Palestine,” the Chairman of the Palestine Society, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, in 1885, with the consent of the Council of the Society, transferred 16,000 rubles, of which 3,000 rubles. were donated by Moscow resident A.N. Lenivov, who wanted to build a church in the Holy Land “where it does not exist.” In particular, for the monastery of St. John the Baptist in Jordan, at the request of the patriarch, objects “necessary for the church” were made with funds from the late Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich in God, who, as is known, at the request of the same Patriarch Nicodemus, ordered icons to be painted for the Nativity Scene, which, however, did not find a place there, due to the machinations of Catholics, and it is unknown where then disappeared... The astonishing squalor of the tent-church of former times is described in bright colors by Fr. arch. Antonin in his interesting article: “January 6 on the Jordan” (Kherson. Eparch. Ved. 1867, part XX, pp. 216, 220–222). According to Greek legend, the Jews crossed the Jordan River here, and here they erected a monument of 12 stones taken from the bottom of the Jordan River in gratitude for their crossing of the deep Jordan (Joshua 3:13–17; 4:3–9) In the Orthodox East, there is a custom everywhere on the feast of Epiphany to perform the blessing of water twice - on the eve in churches and at wells in vessels, and on the feast itself on the river or even on the seashore. In the latter case, when singing the troparion of the holiday: “I am baptized in the Jordan, O Lord,” the priest, after blessing the water three times with a cross in a vessel, throws the cross into the river or the sea (the cross in this case is used at a low value, in view of its possible loss forever) in a deep place. Among the pilgrims there are immediately brave swimmers who, having undressed, rush into the water and take out a cross from the bottom of the sea or river. The lucky one who finds the cross receives the right to walk around the houses of pious citizens with this cross for the whole day of the holiday and collect alms for his own benefit (this is our Christmas glorification of Christ). The custom we describe during the blessing of water on the Jordan undoubtedly has a connection with the above-mentioned custom of the entire Orthodox East. But since the Jordan is a fast-flowing river and carries everything with its rapid current into the Dead Sea, there is no hope of being able to easily find the cross here and it has to be tied here with a silk cord. Out of curiosity, on January 6, ordinary tourists - the British and Americans - come to the Jordan to see a rare picture of the night service on this holiday and the immersion in the waves of the sacred river of masses of Russian pilgrims in white shirts. On the Dead Sea, near the confluence of the Jordan River, not far from the shore, there is a small island that received the poetic biblical name “Lot’s Pillar.” The native Christians have a legend that on this holy night, sinful shadows emerge from the Dead Sea onto Lot’s Pillar and, seeing numerous bonfires burning brightly and the lively rejoicing of Christians gathered on the Jordan for the purpose of immersing the cross of Christ in its streams, with a terrible howl they wander around this uninhabited island all night until dawn... The water temperature in Jordan at this time does not fall below 10 degrees Celsius, and sometimes is significantly higher than this figure. The Troparion is sung the first and third times in Greek, and the second time in Slavic. The Jordanian water, and especially the Epiphany water, is carried away by pilgrims from the Holy Land as a precious shrine, along with holy fire, and is carefully preserved by them all their lives. It appears during serious illnesses and even on the deathbed, according to the sincere conviction of many, as a healing agent and the only joyful consolation. Therefore, there is nothing strange in the fact that among enterprising and energetic Russian people, an idea has recently arisen, following the example of the American Wester, who arranged a huge export of Jordanian water to America, where it is used (1 rub. 20 k. per bottle of 1/2 glass) by various religious sects when performing the sacrament of baptism, to begin exporting Jordanian water and selling it in Russia. According to the information we have, five 20-bucket barrels of Jordanian water have already been sent from the Jordan to Moscow by Turkish citizen Khalil Erapat, who received 500 francs for his work. Jordanian water sent to other countries is boiled, filtered to clean it from silt and organic impurities that decompose in the water and spoil its taste and smell, bottled in barrels, sealed with the seal of the Greek monastery of St. John the Baptist on the Jordan. receives a consular certificate and is transported on camels to Jaffa, and then loaded onto ships for delivery to their destination. A natural explanation for this phenomenon, striking for a piously-minded person, is found in the increased melting of snow on Hermon, where the Jordan originates, and Lebanon, or in heavy rains in the upper reaches of the Jordan. This monastery is located in the middle of the ascent to Mount Sorokodnaya and a rather steep staircase leads to it, half of which can only be reached on foot. The cave contains a church and monastic dwellings. An even more difficult and even dangerous path lies ahead for those who wish to visit the very top of the Forty Day Mountain, from where a charming view of the Jordan Valley, the Dead Sea, the Ammonite and Moabite mountains opens. You might be interested in: