Mount of Olives, Jerusalem
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Church
of St. Mary Magdalene in Gethsemane is a Russian Orthodox church in
East Jerusalem. Located in Gethsemane, not far from the tomb of the
Virgin, on the slope of the Mount of Olives. Built in memory of
Empress Maria Alexandrovna at the expense of the imperial family.
Consecrated in 1888 in honor of St. Mary Magdalene. Since 1921, the
relics of the Holy Martyrs Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and
nun Barbara have been kept in the church.
The temple is the
main church of the female Gethsemane monastery and belongs to the
Russian Ecclesiastical Mission (ROCOR in communion with the ROC MP).
The construction of a temple in memory of Empress Maria Alexandrovna
was proposed by the head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in
Jerusalem, Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin). He also proposed a site
for the construction of a church on the slope of the Mount of
Olives. By the autumn of 1882 the land had been purchased. Architect
David Grimm drew up a project, and the church was founded on January
21, 1885. The construction project was led by the Imperial Orthodox
Palestinian Society under the supervision and guidance of
Archimandrite Antonin. The actual work on the construction of the
temple was carried out by Jerusalem architects Konrad Schick, and
then George Frangia. Tsar Alexander III contributed 100 thousand
rubles for the construction of the temple, his four brothers - 15
thousand each; Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna - 5 thousand rubles.
The Patriarch of Jerusalem consecrated the church on October 1/13,
1888 in the presence of Grand Dukes Sergei Alexandrovich and Pavel
Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna.
In
January 1921, the bodies of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna (the
granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England) and her cell attendant
Barbara, brought from Russia through China, were buried in the
church. The will of the princess was fulfilled - to be buried on the
Mount of Olives. The burial was performed by the Patriarch Damian of
Jerusalem.
Princess Alice of Battenberg, mother of Prince
Philip, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, is buried in the crypt under
the temple.
Gethsemane Monastery
Main article: Gethsemane
Monastery
In 1934, a women's community was founded at the church
in the name of the Resurrection of Christ. The founder was a wealthy
Scot Stella Robinson (Maria in monasticism), a newly converted to
Orthodoxy. She also became abbess in 1936. Some of the sisters
settled directly at the temple, in the Russian part of the Garden of
Gethsemane. Here the community managed to establish daily worship
and monastic life, incl. with the help of good connections of the
abbess with the British authorities of Mandatory Palestine. Another
part of the sisters settled in Bethany, where a Russian school for
children of Orthodox Arabs and a hospital were established. The
first abbess died in 1969, and in 1970 mother Varvara (Tsvetkova)
became abbess. In 1988, the Gethsemane community received the status
of a monastery.
The seven-domed one-altar temple was built of white-gray Jerusalem stone and is an example of Russian architecture of the Moscow style. The church has a small bell tower. The iconostasis is made of white marble with a bronze ornament, the floor is made of multi-colored marble. Icons for the iconostasis were painted by artists Sergei Ivanov and Vasily Vereshchagin. On the altar arch there is a famous image - "Mary Magdalene before the Roman Emperor Tiberius" by Sergei Ivanov. In addition to Vereshchagin and Ivanov, paintings were carried out by Alexei Korzukhin, Alexander Sokolov, Evgraf Sorokin.
The miraculous icon of the Mother of God of Gethsemane
"Hodegetria". The image, which became famous in 1554 in the village of
Rihaniya (Lebanon), was presented as a gift to the Metropolitan of the
Lebanese Mountains Elijah. In turn, he gave it to the Gethsemane
Monastery, after, according to legend, the Great Martyrs Catherine and
Barbara appeared to him.
Relics of the Holy Martyrs Grand Duchess
Elizabeth and Nun Barbara. Stored in separate crayfish on both sides of
the salt. Initially, after being transferred from China, the bodies were
buried in the crypt of the church in accordance with the will of the
Grand Duchess. After the glorification of ROCOR as a saint on May 1,
1982, on the day of the celebration of the Week of the Holy
Myrrh-bearing Women, their relics were transferred from the crypt to the
temple.
Icon of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene with a
particle of her relics.
Icon of the venerable elders of Optina and
the ark with particles of their relics.