Hebron, June 11, 2014
On June 10, the third day of Holy Pentecost, clergy of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem headed by its acting chief Igumen Theophan according to local tradition headed for the city of Hebron, where, as is generally known, the famous appearance of the Holy Trinity to Abraham took place.
In honor of this event a Divine Liturgy was celebrated at the Church of the Holy Patriarchs, attended by a great number of Orthodox believers, reports the website of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem.
As a considerable number of Orthodox Palestinian Arabs were present at the service besides nuns, parishioners of Israeli churches and pilgrims, the service at the church was celebrated in two languages – Russian and Arabic.
After the service a cross procession was arranged to the oak of Mamre, where a short prayer service with reading of the Gospel was held.
Several thousand years ago on this historic site, the founder of the Jewish and Arab peoples and the father of all the faithful, Patriarch Abraham, received three Angels—God Himself, glorified in the Trinity, Who granted him a son at the age of 100 and formed great nations from his (Abraham’s) descendants.
The oak of Mamre has been venerated and protected by the faithful as a great shrine for many centuries.
Now it is a mighty but dry skeleton, supported by special metal props to prevent it from falling, but it is comforting that young shoots have already appeared near the legendary oak.
