The Shepherd, April 2008
There was a litany. When they began to chant the canon, they went into the great church; and on the Grave of Christ one priest with a deacon began early Liturgy. In the great church they chanted the whole canon. After Matins, without stopping, they began the Liturgy also. The Patriarch served with all the clergy in a most majestic and solemn manner. They read the epistle in three languages: Greek, Slavonic, and Arabic. The Gospel was read in many various languages: In Slavonic, they read three, and the rest in Helleno-Greek and Greek, Latin, Turkish, Georgian, Syrian, Arabic, Egyptian, and Abyssinian, and they read while beating the semantron. Everyone stood through the Liturgy with candles. We stood through and Matins and Liturgy in the altar.
When Liturgy was finished, it had begun to dawn. The Orthodox went to the Patriarchate, and there at the gates they gave to each person two red eggs; then everyone went to their place.
By the way it was made known to all Orthodox pilgrims that at the first hour in the afternoon they were to go to the Patriarchal Church for Vespers. And so we went into the Patriarchal Church. It was adorned and decorated with a multitude of lamps and candles. They gave into each person’s hand a large candle made of white wax and we stood through the whole Vespers with candles. It was most solemn. For the entrance there came more than a hundred priests and a multitude of deacons. In front there were seven deacons with candles. Behind them they carried twelve fans. They went behind all the pillars. They read the Gospel as they did at the Liturgy, in many languages with the ringing of the bells. After Vespers there was food for the pilgrims. And then they opened the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the pilgrims went to venerate the Tomb. There — a mournful sight: everyone was weeping, all were wailing. Everyone was embracing the Grave of their Saviour Jesus Christ, were wetting it with warm tears, because the time had come to part with it and to leave it forever. There was weeping and wailing all over the whole church; and especially the women were emitting loud sounds and wailing. And on all the holy places the people were lying and did not want to get up. Thus it was sad and grievous to part with Jerusalem and to be parted from the life-bearing Tomb of Christ.
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THE MONK PARTHENIUS (Ageev) was born in 1807 in Jassy, Moldavia, and named Peter at Baptism. He was a child inclined to reading, especially the spiritual books which his parents had in their home. His soul was so influenced by these that at age 13 he ran away to a nearby monastery, only to be brought back by his parents after three months. As a young man he left Moldavia in search of an Old-Ritualist monastery where he could give himself over to Christ in the spiritual life. Disillusioned by the divisions between the various Old-Ritualist groups, he visited the Russian Orthodox monastery of Sarov, where he met the future Saint Seraphim. After returning to Moldavia and spending time in two Old-Ritualist monasteries, he was received into the Russian Orthodox Church at the age of 30. He then went to Mount Athos and entered the Monastery of St. Panteleimon. After being mistakenly arrested and spending fourteen months in Siberia (during the persecution of the Old Believers, while the abbot of St. Panteleimon’s was away, Fr. Parthenius was mistaken for an Old-Ritualist priest in disguise), he returned to Mount Athos. He was counselled by his Elder, the blessed Arsenius, to return to Russia as a missionary among the Old Believers. He spent seven years with the saintly Bishop Athanasius in Tomsk, Siberia, being made igumen of Berlukov, and was then commissioned by the Holy Synod to found Guslitsy Monastery. He fell asleep in the Lord in 1878 in the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, where he had retired, and was buried there.
Of Father Parthenius’ numerous writings, the most widely-read is his five volume work Report of the Wanderings and Journeys across Russia, Moldavia, Turkey, and the Holy Land, in which are described his diverse experiences, and acquaintances with many notable personalties. Four volumes were published in Moscow in 1855, the fifth being published posthumously by Archimandrite Nicon, after appearing in serialized form in the review “Soul-Profiting Reading” between 1889-1901. Fr. Parthenius journeyed to the Holy Land in 1845, shortly before the death of his beloved elder. The account of Holy Week and Paschal services in Jerusalem and of the miracle of the Holy Fire in 1846 is taken from the second volume of his Wanderings.
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