VI. Праздник Входа Господня в Иерусалим в Святогробском храме и суббота праведного Лазаря в Вифании

The life of Russian pilgrims in Jerusalem at the end of Lent reaches its highest tension. The last days of the sixth week and the entire Holy Week, including the first two of Easter until the evening, for these pilgrims seem to be a continuous series of solemn, only church services in the year, participation in which each of them considers to be their primary and sacred duty. The temples of Jerusalem, and in particular the greatest Christian shrine - the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, these days, from morning to evening and from evening to morning, are overflowing with thousands of worshipers who have gathered here from different parts of the world - “from the west and the north, and the sea and the east.” In the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, solemn services and processions of the cross are held almost every day; its numerous chapels or chapels and dimly lit circular galleries are resounding with almost silent, touching chants, in which the sufferings of our Lord on the Cross, remembered by the Church on these holy days, are glorified. Pilgrims, depriving themselves of sleep, food, and satisfaction of the very first natural human needs, willingly and with amazing patience spend all this time in churches during divine services, bringing their strength, already significantly depleted by previous prolonged poor nutrition, vigils in different churches and travel to view holy places, often even to the point of complete exhaustion. Some observers of the life of our pilgrims in the Holy City try to explain this extreme weakening of physical strength either by the advanced age at which most pilgrims undertake the journey to Jerusalem, or by the lack and depletion of the already meager material resources with which our pilgrims often travel here, due to which some of them at the end of the season are forced to eat very unsatisfactorily, but these explanations, in our opinion, should still be considered mostly one-sided. Pilgrimage to the Holy Land is not alien to such facts when, to our great consolation, feats of amazing abstinence and vigilant, unceasing prayer in holy places, sometimes entailing complete loss of physical strength and even death, are undertaken by people who are financially wealthy and not even strangers to good wealth. Just during the just ended pilgrimage season (1908), on the return journey from Jerusalem to Russia, on the steamship Lazarev, which departed from Jaffa with 1,160 pilgrims, on April 26, between Chios and Smyrna, a certain Andrei Bonshin, 63 years old, died “from complete exhaustion”, leaving in the arms of his young son Lavrenty, who shared with his father the feats of pilgrimage, “money in the amount of ZOO rubles.” Obviously, here “senile insanity” and poverty of material resources will help us little in explaining the reasons for this “complete exhaustion.” The reasons for it should be sought in the depths of the highly attuned soul of the pilgrim. The fiery religious inspiration that embraces the entire being of a deeply religious person suppresses other needs in him so much that it drowns out even the consciousness of the urgent need to satisfy one’s natural needs: “no one hates his own flesh, but nourishes and warms it” (Philip. 5:9), and only a serious illness or a sad end - in the form of unexpected death in a hospital or even on a ship, almost off the coast of the desired, dear homeland, remind, although it is too late, that a person did not commensurate the difficult deeds of piety with his weak physical strength... The same high rise of religious inspiration and an uncontrollable thirst to associate oneself with that, cherished, happiness that falls to the lot of a pilgrim on the holy days of Passion Week in general and on Great Saturday, upon receiving the holy fire, and on the very day of Easter at the life-giving Sepulcher of the Lord in particular, should explain that irresistible desire on these days among pilgrims with weak physical strength and even those who are in full exhausted, at all costs, be sure to be in the Holy Sepulcher Church - “so as not to lag behind your comrades, in order to accomplish what you have set for yourself.” According to the testimony of the doctor of our hospital, seriously ill pilgrims, “at the end of Lenten services, with the receipt of the Holy Fire, go to the hospital more willingly” than on Holy Days, when only extremely decrepit old people who are exhausted to the extreme and suffering from serious illnesses, and most often brought here on stretchers, go to bed... But even these unfortunate sufferers, who often have difficulty getting out of bed, do not for a minute, however, give up the hope of being honored to get to the Holy Sepulcher Church to receive the “grace of the holy fire” on Holy Saturday. Those around such unfortunate patients sometimes have to be present at the difficult pictures of their mental anguish... For example, an old woman, 65 years old, extremely exhausted and with a high fever, can barely move her legs around the room, but during Holy Week she persistently asks the doctor to discharge her from the hospital. And when the latter persuades her to stay a few more days in the hospital, the patient even objects with resentment in her voice: “On such and such days!?.. I’ll leave, I won’t lie in bed!”.. Another sick old woman, with severe croupous inflammation, repeats: “I’ll leave, I’m healthy.” To the doctor’s admonitions, she replies: “I’ll leave - it doesn’t matter,” and only the guardian-nurse at the patient’s bedside prevents her from bringing her disastrous intention to fruition. The third patient, whose temperature had dropped, but had not yet reached a full recovery, when persuaded to lie still for a few more time in the hospital, became enraged and even frantic... To stop the rampage, willy-nilly we have to let her go, although with full confidence that in just a few days the patient will return to her bed in the hospital, but in a difficult situation and even with the danger of dying. A sick old man, having suffered from phlegmon and erysipelas and being on the road to recovery, but still with extreme weakness and exhaustion of strength, asks to be discharged from the hospital. When the doctor begins to object and prove to him the impracticability and disastrousness of his request, the old man scolds, saying: “Why are you holding me? What, are you trying to torture me?! I’ll get better sooner in the air.” In the end I had to give in to persistence, but a few days later the stubborn old man was brought to the hospital on a stretcher, and he died from loss of strength 89 . There are other pictures of hospital life in Jerusalem that are simply astonishing, heart-rending and tear-jerking from involuntary observers of it on these holy days. A patient, for example, who cannot turn over in bed without outside help, still does not give up hope of getting to his feet “in time for the holiday,” and in order to speed up his recovery, which he places entirely after God on the doctor, he calls the doctor to him with signs and, when the latter leans closer to him, with parched, hot lips he barely babbles: “Just look... try... and I’ll give you... a ruble.” His comrade, just as helpless as his neighbor, but with a lower temperature, when the doctor took him by the hand to feel his pulse, silently thrust into his hand a hot “half ruble”, which he kept all the time under the blanket, dedicating it to his “savior”, so that, of course, he would “quickly rescue” him from the disease and release him to where all his comrades together waiting for the longed-for “grace”. So strong is the fiery inspiration of the Russian Orthodox pilgrim to St. Earth, so deep is the need for him to spend the days of Holy Pentecost and Holy Week in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, at his shrines that are precious to the believing soul - at the life-giving Sepulcher and the terrible Golgotha. Holy Week and the first day of St. Easter for the Russian pilgrim at the same time is the last days of his difficult pilgrimage, the last hours and minutes of his stay in St. City of Jerusalem, since many of the pilgrims, especially the poorer ones, are in a hurry to say goodbye to Jerusalem on the very first day of Easter, “after fasting” at the compound of the Palestinian Society, and go to Jaffa, even often on foot, to get on the first Russian steamship going to Russia. Consequently, each pilgrim, strictly attending all the daytime, evening and night long services in the Holy Sepulcher Church, must, in addition, spend the rest of his free time walking around the Holy Grave shops and shops in order to buy for all his family, acquaintances and especially benefactors who helped the pilgrim with money during his preparations for the Holy Land, gifts corresponding to their tastes, inclinations and age, and at the same time grab and something for yourself “to remember” about your pilgrimage to St. Holy Sepulcher. It is therefore quite natural that city life in Jerusalem during these days of fasting and Holy Week reaches an extraordinary revival: in the streets and markets crowded with visiting merchants from different parts of the world, from the noisy solicitations of buyers in all kinds of languages and dialects, with praise of their goods, laid out either in temptingly seductive display cases and exhibitions, or in a striking kaleidoscopic disorder on the shelves, there is an unimaginable din and screams from morning until late evening. In the crowd everywhere, peddlers of all kinds of sweets, magicians and acrobats are scurrying around, performing all sorts of tricks and “fantasies” in front of the pilgrims, making a stunning impression on the simple-minded pilgrims, and all sorts of beggars, obsessively pestering the pilgrims with all sorts of “trinkets”, or simply simply brazenly demanding “bakshish”... The Holy City these days is turning into the trading market, “the city of peace” - to Babylon, in which there is no peace from the shouting, abuse and unimaginable crowd that reigns on its streets. In the Russian courtyard, lively preparations are underway in the buildings for departure to their homeland, since pilgrims spend all their free time from divine services packing their mostly complex and extensive luggage. Because of this, the same bustle and excitement reign here as can be observed at this time in St. Grade. In view of the upcoming great days of Holy Week, the Holy Sepulcher Church, thanks to the large number of pilgrims staying in it, is quite dirty, the clergy and ministers begin to clean it, wash it and bring it into splendid appearance. The local ordinary icons in the iconostasis of the Church of the Resurrection and in the second tier on the site of the Twelfth Feasts are replaced by icons with images of the “Passion of the Lord,” embroidered in gold on dark purple velvet. At the front and on the sides of the cuvuklia, on all its cornices, expensive holiday icons are hung, strewn with pearls and precious stones and decorated with fresh flowers. Here, along the cornices of the edicule, patterned wax candles of various sizes are placed in several rows, with carved cherubs between them. Above the entrance to the edicule of the Holy Sepulcher they hang a large precious lamp with five glasses - a pious gift from the late Sovereign Nicholas I Pavlovich. The Life-Giving Coffin inside is washed with warm water, wiped with lips, anointed with aromas and decorated with expensive candlesticks and vases of flowers. The lamps, burning unquenchably over the precious bed of the God-Man, are washed and filled with new, pure oil 90. In the church itself, three huge chandeliers descending from the dome of the church are offset by massive candles. In the altar of the church, patterned candles and colored glass lamps are placed along its cornices, on the iconostasis and in the vaults of the dome, which, in addition, are hung in fancy garlands on ropes throughout the church. The throne in the altar is dressed in precious clothes and set with silver candlesticks in the form of palm trees, Viennese workmanship. Consequently, the Holy Sepulchre clergy, during the sixth and seventh weeks of Lent and Easter, do not remain passive spectators of the vibrant life around them, but they themselves, in turn, are drawn into its whirlpool, and with other inhabitants and strangers of St. The city is also in bustle and troubles. Decorated Edicule of the Holy Sepulcher The celebrations of Passion Week are preceded by majestic hierarchal services and litanies on the Saturday of Righteous Lazarus in Bethany and on the week of Vaiya or the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem in the Holy Sepulcher Church. In memory of the touching gospel event of the resurrection of Lazarus, festivities and solemn services are timed to Bethany (in Arabic Lazaria), three hours away from Jerusalem, where the deep burial cave of Lazarus is still preserved in its original form, almost untouched by time, with a steep descent into it, 24 steps, with an entrance lined with square stones. Inside this cave, on the side, near the wall opposite the entrance, there is a stone altar, on which Catholics celebrate a festive mass on this day. To the left of the entrance, a small descent, five or six steps down, leads to another small cave, where there is a stone bed carved into the rock, on which lay the body of the four-day-old Lazarus, wrapped in burial shrouds, covered with a heavy monolithic stone (John 9:38). Above the cave are the remains of the house of Lazarus, who lived here with his sisters Martha and Mary. Here, according to legend, St. Queen Helena, mother of St. Constantine, built a magnificent church (grandisbasilica), and the Church of Jerusalem established here from the first centuries of its existence a solemn national litany on Lazarus Saturday and a festive service in it in memory of the remembered event 91. Later, around the 9th century. this church was destroyed, and the Greek worship on the day of Lazarus Saturday was moved to the cave itself 92. Since the time of the Crusaders, it must be assumed that ownership of the altar in the cave of St. Lazarus passed to the Latins, who still retain this right 93. Entrance to the burial cave of Lazarus in Bethany The Greeks from Bethany moved to perform the services of this day on Mount Olivet, as to the place closest to the tomb of the righteous Lazarus, and from here, after the bishop's liturgy, which was celebrated annually near the place of the Ascension of the Lord, in a green camp tent specially prepared for this purpose, they went with a litany to the tomb of Lazarus to serve a prayer service and read here appropriate to the place and event gospel narrative. The service itself on Olivet on this day was furnished with some exceptional features that in the Jerusalem Church now take place only in the service of the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord, when describing which we will touch on them in detail. Referring our readers who are interested in these features to our essay “The Feast of the Ascension of the Lord on Olivet,” we will here exclusively turn our attention to recent changes in the services of the day we are describing. The services on Saturday to Lazarev on the top of the Olivet, near the place of the ascension, in a tent presented a lot of serious inconveniences for the clergy of the Zion Church and the numerous pilgrims who gather here for prayer. Due to its small size, the church tent can only accommodate clergy, honored visitors and, at most, 50 pilgrims; the rest of the pilgrims must stand in the open-air courtyard during the service. The weather in Jerusalem at this time of year cannot, however, be considered favorable for performing such divine services in an open place: sometimes a strong cold wind rages on the top of Olivet, tearing off the top of the tent, sometimes it often rains so heavily that there is even fear for the possibility of successfully completing the begun hierarchical liturgy. “When they came out with the Holy Gifts, eyewitness Fr. A describes the liturgy of that day. Anisimov, suddenly it began to rain so heavily that there was confusion in the church tabernacle, which, by the way, was full of holes, and, with the liquid material, did not even protect us well from the burning rays, and from the downpour, no less. All the vestments on the throne and on the servants were wet to the skin. Antimins almost floated, lying in a puddle of water. The Holy Gifts were only preserved from dehydration and desalination by being covered with fourfold folded covers. The bishops kept moving from place to place, and so did we, looking for a more comfortable position. The water poured down our necks in a whole stream, we barely had time to wipe the moisture from our eyes in order to say a cry and read a prayer. The missals blurred in their hands. The chaos is terrible! I began to fear for the proper outcome of the mass, but the bishop placed a boy with a staff on the stone on the front side of which the liturgy was being celebrated, and he, using it to support the sunken tent above the saint. Gifts, gave these the opportunity for the water to roll further away from them, and thus we ended the mass. However, the two archimandrites had barely received communion, but immediately, in view of the bishop, they undressed and left, leaving me and the Arab priest. Vladyka Epiphanius (Metropolitan of Jordan) was exposed after all." 94 "On Palm Saturday, at the end of the Mass on Olivet, according to the same Father Anisimov, sometimes they go with a procession to Bethany to the Cave of Lazarus to worship, but now inclement weather prevented this. However, the masses of people now and then stretched in a long line back and forth" 95 . In view of the described physical and liturgical very serious inconveniences, the Zion Church tried, at the first opportunity, to transfer the Lazarus Saturday services from Olivet, which is not in any direct connection with the event remembered by the Church, to a place more convenient for this and much closer to the center of gravity on this day for all pilgrims - to the cave of St. Lazarus in Bethany. Such a completely suitable place turned out to be the Church of the “Meeting", located under Olivet, at a distance of about a mile from Bethany, built on the spot where Martha, the sister of Lazarus, met Jesus Christ going to Bethany to the deceased Lazarus, and where He sat for some time waiting for his other sister Mary. The Gospel says this about this meeting: Martha, when she heard that Jesus was coming, shat him: Martha was sitting at home. Martha said to Jesus: Lord, if you were here, my brother would not have died and this reksha (that is, after the conversation about the general resurrection of the dead), go and invite Mary, your sister, to that reksha: The Teacher has come to eat and speaks to you. As soon as she heard it, she quickly got up and went to him. Jesus was no longer completely gone, but was in the place where Martha had buried him (John 9:20–21 and 28–30). Monastery, Meetings on the southern slope of the Mount of Olives This place remained abandoned for a long time and was marked by a flint stone, which, according to popular belief, was so strong that no one could take even a small piece from it. All pilgrims who visited the tomb of St. made a pilgrimage to this place. Lazarus. At the end of the seventies of the last century (in 1879), the enterprising Holy Sepulcher Archimandrite Spiridonius (later Patriarch of Antioch) decided, with the blessing of the patriarch. Hierotheos I finally used this pilgrimage point for religious and philanthropic purposes. Having purchased from the Turkish government a plot of land with an area of ​​up to 3 dessiatines, somewhat to the right of the current road to Jericho to the Jordan, close to the above-mentioned stone of the meeting of the Lord with the sisters of St. Lazarus Martha and Mary, arch. Spiridonius and his tireless successor, who is still alive today, Arch. Gregory Pipidis built a beautiful church here (13 meters long and 7 meters high). width) in the Russian-Byzantine style, with a rather high bell tower next to it, filling the latter with many Russian bells, and transferred into it the stone on which, according to legend, the Savior sat awaiting the arrival of Mary. This stone, embedded on the right side of the iconostasis at the end of the wall in a floor marble slab and having above it a magnificent canopy-case with an icon depicting an evangelical event associated with this place, began to attract numerous pilgrims to the monastery. The church here was popularly called the “Meetings” monastery. The stone on which the Savior sat, awaiting the arrival of Mary, sister of St. Lazarus The selfless philanthropic activities of Fr. Gregory, the current abbot of the monastery, with his brethren, in severe rainy and snowy weather with strong winds, during the winter pilgrimages of our fans, especially when they returned from the Jordan to Jerusalem after the Feast of the Epiphany, we described in the essay “The Feast of the Epiphany on the Jordan River.” Caring about. arch. Gregory built a convenient shelter for pilgrims at this monastery and planted a garden of olives, fig and almond trees, which are cordially open to Russian pilgrims both in the hot summer and in the stormy rainy Palestinian winter. With the construction of a small but magnificent church in the “Meetings” monastery, all services of Lazarus Saturday have now been transferred from Olivet to this church. The services, both evening and morning, were performed for the most part by the late († Aug. 16, 1908) Metropolitan of Jordan Epiphanius, who lived in recent years in the monastery on Olivet, known as the “Little Galilee.” Since Metropolitan Epifaniy spoke the Slavic language very well, and since the majority of pilgrims are our Russian pilgrims, the service for the most part takes place in the Slavic language and even with the singing of Russian singers and singers from the pilgrims. At the end of the liturgy, the bishop and the clergy of the monastery perform a litany to the tomb of St. Lazarus. Since the distance from the Monastery of the Meeting to Bethany is short, the litany is never canceled, even if the weather is unfavorable and rainy. The bishop not only performs the litany at this time under an umbrella, but even under it also reads the gospel corresponding to the place when descending into the cave of St. Lazarus. The people, marching in the litany with the singing of the solemn troparion: “Assuring the general resurrection before Thy passion, Thou didst raise Lazarus from the dead, O Christ God,” make their pilgrimage through the sticky mud, not without difficulty, in waterproof raincoats and also under umbrellas. Be that as it may, the day of Lazarus Saturday in Bethany is very lively. Russian pilgrims, on their way back from Bethany, enter Bethshania, where the apostles found a donkey for Christ the Savior, at His entry into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1-6) - a place now not marked by anything - to the shelter of Fr. arch. Antonina on Olivet to relax and admire from here the charming views of the city and the Dead Sea with the Jordan River, but they don’t stay here for long, as they rush to the city to stock up on a palm branch, with which our pilgrims stand for Matins and Liturgy the next day on the feast of the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem. According to the now accepted custom, “threads and branches” are not distributed into the hands of pilgrims in churches during Matins, 96 but they buy them for themselves at the market from local inhabitants. These palm trees are sold either in their natural form and sometimes in enormous sizes, or they are very skillfully woven into stars and ornaments, which are then decorated with fresh flowers. The price of such palm trees, sold in bazaars and on the site near the Church of the Resurrection, depending on the size and decoration, ranges from 10 k. to 2 rubles per piece. It is these palm trees that our pilgrims, at the end of the season, take as a souvenir to their homeland 97 along with other relics and witnesses of their pilgrimage to the life-giving Tomb. The solemn vespers on the eve of the holiday are celebrated in the Resurrection Church, with a huge crowd of pilgrims, by the patriarch with the synodal bishops and a large cathedral of hieromonks. The arrival of the patriarch to the church, his meeting and participation in the rite of Great Vespers with the blessing of the loaves are no different from the services on other twelve and great holidays. The decoration of the church and “unctuous candles, lit in countless numbers, silver, crystal and all kinds,” according to Vasily Grigorovna-Barsky, give this celebration a special splendor and beauty. "And then the church was painted with fiery light, he says, like the sky with stars, with silver and gold and other church utensils, like lightning, and then, in truth, standing in the church, we stand in heaven. There was evening and morning singing, molded and unhurried, and a multitude of singers, and there was a sweet vigil and unsleeping standing then 98." The patriarch returns home, accompanied by a council of clergy. In the morning, at the usual time, a liturgy is celebrated at the Holy Sepulcher by the synodal bishop, which is sung by Russian pilgrims, who in huge numbers overflow the Holy Sepulcher Church throughout the night until the end of the late liturgy and procession. In the morning, the late liturgy is served in the Resurrection Church by the patriarch, with the participation of the synodal bishops and the council of clergy. Since the pilgrims present at this service belong to various nationalities, among which Greeks, Russians and Arabs constitute the predominant element, its readings and chants alternate in the languages ​​of these nationalities. At the end of the liturgy, the internal litany begins in the Holy Sepulcher Church, about which Vasily Grigorovich-Barsky wrote in his time: “bist parusia (παρρησία) is the most red and larger than all the first ones” 99, i.e. litany of the weeks of Orthodoxy and veneration of the cross. But, if we take it as a whole, we must still admit that this litany is only a weak reminder of those solemn litanies that were previously performed on this day in Jerusalem, according to the testimony of the noble pilgrim of the 4th century, Silvia of Aquitaine 100 and according to the Typikon of the Holy Sepulchre, 1122 101 . In ancient times, the patriarch with the clergy and people left Jerusalem even to Bethany, there they cut down an olive tree and with it through the Olivet, past Gethsemane, the Sheep Font, they came to the Holy Sepulcher Church to perform an internal litany, after which the people “torn” the brought tree into small pieces. This litany also faintly reminds us of the solemn litanies in the Church of the Holy Forty Martyrs near the copper Tetrapylus in Constantinople, where, according to the Typical of the Ancient Great Church, the patriarchal spiritual ranks, dressed in phelonions, with crosses and date fronds in their hands, together with the king and his court dignitaries, walked on foot, and the patriarch walked, in the image of Christ the Savior, on horseback on the lot (έπΐ -ώλοο). From this litany, in subsequent times, a magnificent ceremonial rite degenerated, known, according to our monuments, under the name “The Rite of Walking on a Donkey.” The spiritual and civil ranks accompanying the patriarch, together with the king and the people, sang the stichera, which is still preserved in our worship: “Today the grace of the Holy Spirit has gathered us, and we have all taken up your cross (that is, a metal cross or made of date palm leaves), with the verb: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, hosanna in the highest.” In the Church of the Holy Forty Martyrs, the baptisms were blessed and distributed to the participants in the litany, and then the patriarch returned on foot to the saint. Sophia 102 for the liturgy. But the Holy Sepulchral “parousia” we describe on the week of Vai can still rightly be called “the reddest and greatest” among other Jerusalem litanies similar to it, since it is distinguished by solemnity and some such details that undoubtedly still reflect the features of deep antiquity. In addition to the participation in it of a huge multitude of clergy, dressed in rich sacred vestments and having in their hands, in addition to reliquaries with relics, or small icons, or gospels (for bishops), bouquets of fresh flowers and lighted candles with palm trees, and the carrying of many banners and an external cross, in this procession a prominent place is occupied by the cleric in the stichera, carrying the banner of the Resurrection behind the patriarch Christ and another cleric - a huge olive branch, richly decorated with fresh flowers. All participants in the procession begin the litany by singing the stichera: “Today the grace of the Holy Spirit has gathered us,” which is then replaced by the singing of the canon of the holiday. The litany is performed according to the custom accepted for all internal litanies of the Holy Sepulchre, i.e. first they surround the edicule three times, then walk along the gallery around the Church of the Resurrection, stop opposite the edicule, where the patriarch reads the gospel appropriate for the occasion and pronounces a litany commemorating the names of the reigning Orthodox dynasties and the Sultan, as well as asking for mercy and health to all fans of the holy places, and enter the Church of the Resurrection, where the dismissal liturgy takes place and the distribution of antidor by the patriarch in the path of the Church of the Resurrection. The people filling the church, the galleries, Golgotha ​​and all the elevated points in the church in countless numbers, stand with statues and lit candles throughout the liturgy and during the litany. At the end of the litany, when the patriarch and all the clergy participating in it stand in the Church of the Resurrection, the pilgrims, in the literal sense of the word, snatch up or, in the language of Typica 1122 r., tear to pieces (äp-άζει) the olive tree carried in the litany by the clergyman into pieces, which they take with them as a memory of “the triumph” and “for blessing and sanctification,” as the ancient prayer composed for this occasion says (Εοχή.εν τη λιτανεία των Βαιων, όττηνίκα μέλλει οιακόπτεσδαι καί διασπάσί)αι όπό τοδ λαοΰ τδ δένδρον, ήτοι οί κλάδοι τής ελαίας είς Βαία), found in the Missals of the 15th century 103. The patriarch, having unmasked himself, with a host of clergy who participated in the litany, returns to the patriarchate and offers the latter the usual treat in such cases. The pilgrims, having refreshed themselves with food on Russian buildings and having rested a little, go to the city, to the so-called golden gate, located in the eastern wall of Jerusalem, facing the Jehoshaphat Valley and the Mount of Olives. According to legend, through these gates the Lord Jesus Christ solemnly entered Jerusalem on a donkey (Matthew 21:10), with people shouting and throwing clothes and fronds at his feet (v. 8). Through the same gate in 629, the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius entered Jerusalem, carrying the Holy Cross, returned to him after the victory over the Persians, who took possession of the Holy Cross along with other shrines, during the capture of Jerusalem in 614. The gate under the conqueror of Jerusalem, Caliph Omar, whose wonderful mosque is located opposite this gate, was walled up in 636 with the aim of making The folk legend that through these very gates the Christian conqueror of Islam will once enter is unfulfillable. At the gate on the city side there is now a very grandiose building with vaults. Many pilgrims, weather permitting, go outside the city to walk the entire path of Christ the Savior to Bethany and even Bethsphania, and return home through Olivet late in the evening. For the first three days of Holy Week, pilgrims fast. Those of them who were not in the Jordan on the day of the Epiphany and did not even have time to visit this river, glorified by the baptism of the Lord in it, try to make a trip there on one of the three days of this week in order to bathe in its cold streams and prepare for the hour of death a shirt washed in the waters of the sacred river. On Wednesday evening, in the monastery of the holy kings Constantine and Helen, the rite of blessing of oil is performed for pilgrims, and on the night of Maundy Thursday, at the life-giving Sepulcher of the Lord, they all partake of St. Mysteries of Christ. The Golden Gate, through which, according to legend, the Savior made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. From letters of a Russian doctor in Jerusalem. – Those interested in the strength and depth of the religious mood of the Russian pilgrim during the fulfillment of his “vow” in Jerusalem, we refer to the article by V. Protopopov: “On the Holy Night in Jerusalem” (From a tourist’s memorial book), written warmly and under the strong impression of real pictures from the life of the Russian hospital in Jerusalem (News 1904, No. 87). It is worthy of note that in those years when Easter coincides according to the Western and Eastern calendars, monks of other faiths - Armenian and Catholic - also take part in decorating the edicule, and this competition of faiths in the decoration of the precious shrine, according to eyewitnesses, takes place peacefully and without any incidents... This testimony belongs to St. Theodosius, writer of the 6th century. (about 530) (Tobler. et Molinier. Itiner. Hierosol. et description. Terrae Sanctae. Genev. 1879, p. 67). Bev. 'Icoavvco. llposxovYjxapiov xrj; sfa; Vr^. 'Ev IsposoX. 1877 ex. -yarart. o', ceX. 20. Right Pal. Collection V. 21, p. 80. Travel notes of a Russian shepherd about the sacred East. p. 281. Raisins 1886 In the past, when there were few pilgrims in Jerusalem at that time, the waiyas were distributed to pilgrims in the same way as we do now, during the morning service. “Whenever we began to distribute the vaiya, we distributed it to the people themselves at the hands of their own. I give to every soul one date and an olive branch and a cross, from the leaves of the date tangles” (Str. V. Grigorovich-Barsky on the holy places of the East, part I, p. 382). But when the number of pilgrims increased, this custom was abolished in order to avoid crowds, noise and even accidents during worship. The very name pilgrim comes from the word palm tree, which our pilgrims carried with them from Jerusalem. Pilgrim is an adaptation of the word palmer. N. Barsukov. Wanderings. V. Grigorovich-Barsky according to St. places of the East from 1723–1747, part I, p. 382, ​​St. Petersburg. 1885. Gamurrini. S. Silviae peregrinatio ad loca Sancta p. 59–60, Rom. 1888; Right Pal. Collection vol. VII, c. II, pp. 152–154. J.A. Paigao. - Κεραιχεύς. 'Ανάλεκτα ίεροσολυμιτικής σταχυολογίας έν Πε- τρουπόλει σελ. 16–17; Dmitrievsky. Divine services of Holy and Easter weeks in St. Jerusalem IX–X centuries. pp. 10–26, Kaz. 1894 A. Dmitrievsky. The most ancient patriarchal Typicons of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem and the Great Church of Constantinople pp. 119–122, Kiev 1907. RKP. Jerusalem patriarch bib. No. 377, l. 116. You might be interested in: