Lent in Jerusalem.

Simply because I like such things, here are two videos of recent Lenten services at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem (h/t Orthocath). First, we have parts of the Divine Liturgy celebrated on the Second Sunday of Lent (the Sunday of St. Gregory Palamas) by a group that includes six bishops and more than twenty priests. The use of Slavonic as well as Greek and the very Slavic crowd surrounding Christ's Tomb bear witness to the resurgence of Russian pilgrimage to the Holy Land (a phenomenon I've noted previously). Watching this video makes me recall the time I was in Jerusalem for Pentecost, and it inevitably also makes me yearn to return there (something I do often enough anyway).



The second video presents portions of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts as celebrated at the site of the Crucifixion. In his opening comments, videographer Justin Daniel notes the contrast between the intimate scale of this weekday Lenten service and the much grander liturgies celebrated on Sundays and feast days at the Holy Sepulchre. Like the first, this video makes me want to go back to Jerusalem; both videos also remind me that I should pray more often for pilgrims and for the Christians of the Holy Land, and I hope that you will join me in remembering that intention. AMDG.