Prophet Elijah commemorated in the town Maaloule near Nazareth
On Saturday, the 13th/26th of July 2014, the memory of the Prophet Elias the Thesbite was commemorated in advance at the Church dedicated to him in the area of Maaloule, a suburb of Nazareth.
The Church of the Prophet Elias used to belong to the Arab-speaking Community of the Patriarchate which abandoned its seat upon the foundation of the state of Israel, in 1948. Since then, the area has been a military base. In recent years, the Patriarchate, mainly through the actions of Metropolitan Kyriakos of Nazareth and Archimandrite Hilarion, the Abbot at the Monastery of Tabor, went on to restore, renovate and reopen it.
His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem led the Matins and the Divine Liturgy. Co-officiating were the Most Reverend Kyriakos, Metropolitan of Nazareth, and the Elder Secretary-General, Archbishop Aristarchos of Constantina; Archimandrite Hilarion, Abbot at the Monastery of Mount Tabor; and Arab-speaking Presbyters from the Nazareth area. Orthodox faithful from Nazareth participated in piety, moved over the knowledge that their ancestors had lived in this very town.
Source: Patriarchate of Jerusalem
