Праздник Встречи Девы Марии с прав. Елисаветой. Горненский монастырь в Иерусалиме.

The Gornensky Convent solemnly commemorates the Gospel event recounting the meeting of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Righteous Elizabeth in Jerusalem. This celebration is also known as the Feast of the Kiss. The celebration of the meeting of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Righteous Elizabeth was established in 1883 by Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin), head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem. Father Antonin composed special hymns for the service of the Feast of the Kiss, which are still used to glorify the Most Holy Theotokos. On the eve of the feast, a prayer service is held in Trinity Cathedral, traditionally led by a hierarch of the Jerusalem Patriarchate; this time, it was Archbishop Theophan of Gerasa. Then, the venerated icon of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, accompanied by clergy, proceeds to the Gornensky Convent. Here, at the spring of the Mother of God in the village of Ein Karem, Abbess Catherine and the sisters of the Gorny Monastery greet her. Numerous pilgrims come here to the Hill Country, where the Blessed Virgin Mary arrived from Nazareth shortly after the Annunciation. The procession from the spring to the Kazan Cathedral retraces the path the Blessed Virgin took to fetch water while living for three months in the home of the righteous Zechariah and Elizabeth—the parents of John the Baptist and Forerunner. And now, more than two thousand years later, the Queen of Heaven once again "went to the Hill Country with diligence to the city of Judea." Beneath Her feet is a path of fresh flowers, lovingly laid out by the sisters of the monastery. In the Kazan Cathedral (and later in the Cathedral of All Saints Who Shone Forth in the Russian Land), the icon of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, clothed in a floor-length veil resembling a monastic mantle, occupies a special place, with the abbot's staff placed next to it. Now, for as long as the miraculous icon remains in the Gorny Monastery, the Most Holy Virgin herself serves as Abbess. The faithful approach Her, the Heavenly Intercessor, for a blessing. The icon of the Annunciation will remain in the Gorny Monastery for three months, until the feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist—the same period during which the Most Holy Virgin visited her relative, Elizabeth. Then, the venerated icon, leaving the village of Gorny until next year, will return to the Trinity Cathedral of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission.