Patriarch Theophilos celebrates Liturgy at Dormition Church in Gethsemane

Service in Gethsemane. Photo: Jerusalem Patriarchate

His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem presided over a solemn service for the feast of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos on August 28, 2026, at the church over the Tomb of the Mother of God in Gethsemane, the Jerusalem Patriarchate reports.

The service was attended by believers from the Georgian, Romanian and other Orthodox Churches. The chanting was in Greek and Arabic. Among those present were Greek Consul General in Jerusalem Dimitrios Angelopoulos, as well as Georgian Ambassador Beka Tvali and Consul Maka Odzelashvili.

In his sermon, Patriarch Theophilos III reminded the faithful that the Church sees the Dormition of the Theotokos as a passage from earthly life to eternal life – a death that, in the words of the Holy Fathers, became a “ladder” to heaven. He stressed that the empty tomb in Gethsemane bears witness to the bodily assumption of the Mother of God and confirms the Church’s teaching on her glorious Dormition.

As the UOJ reported, the previous day Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem led the service of the Lamentations of the Most Holy Theotokos in Gethsemane, at the foot of the Mount of Olives, where the Tomb of the Mother of God is located.

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