Church of All the Saints of the Holy Land and Russia

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This beautiful church in Ein Kerem is called the Church of All the Saints of the Holy Land and Russia.
(You can click two separate times to enlarge any of the pictures.)

And today, on the Byzantine liturgical calendar, it is Sunday of All Saints.

The Divine Liturgy for the Feast of All Saints of the Holy Land took place this morning at the church of the same name within the Gorny Convent.

 Russians built the convent in 1871 but the big church was "on hold" for over a century.
Just a few years ago it was finally finished, complete with golden domes.
It looks out over my beloved Jerusalem Hills.

Read more about this Sunday at the Greek Orthodox website, including this nice summary:

In this celebration, then, we the pious reverently honour and call blessed all the Righteous, the Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, Shepherds, Teachers, and Holy Monastics, both men and women alike, known and unknown, who have been added to the choirs of the Saints and shall be added, from the time of Adam until the end of the world, who have been perfected in piety and have glorified God by their holy lives. All these, as well as the orders of the Angels, and especially our most holy Lady and Queen, the Ever-virgin Theotokos Mary, do we honour today, setting their life before us as an example of virtue, and entreating them to intercede in our behalf with God, Whose grace and boundless mercy be with us all. Amen.

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More pictures of the Russian Orthodox nuns and the several churches at the Gorny Convent in my earlier posts.
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And speaking of Russian Orthodox nuns, good Sister Dr. Vassa has started sharing whatever insights come to her during her morning reflections on how to make improvements in her and our spiritual life and life in general.  Very helpful, even for me, a non-Christian!
Just go to https://www.facebook.com/ and type in Vassa Larin.
Her posts are public and you do not need to have a Facebook account to see them.

UPDATE June 9: The Moscow Patriarchate just published their photos from the feast day at the church in Gorny Convent, with the arrival of an icon from Mt. Athos. 
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(Linking to OurWorld Tuesday and to the bloggers' meme for churches around the world, inSPIRED Sunday.)
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The world behind the gate

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A rare photo of the gate open. ( A car had just driven out and the automatic gate was sliding shut.)
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The people door is to the right.
You must press the button on the pillar and hope a Sister will answer on the intercom.
Then you must hope that the Russian-speaking nun will understand that you want to come in and walk around.
If you are answered with a buzzer, lean on that heavy door fast!
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Suddenly you will be quite alone in another world that feels like a 19th century Russian village.
But it is the huge monastic grounds of the Russian Orthodox Gornensky Convent on the edge of Ein Kerem.
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At Louis la Vache's new Monday Doorways meme you can see all kinds of entrances, and you are welcome to contribute a photo of a favorite door of yours too.
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Italian tiles on a Russian roof in Ein Kerem

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So many of you liked the Gornensky Convent that I give you more today.
Please see yesterday's comments for answers to questions raised.
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Enlarge and see that the cathedral's domes were still black in 2007.
You can see the perimeter walls that circle the huge Russian complex.
All those tall dark cypress trees are on the convent grounds.
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April 2009--scaffolding all around and the cathedral domes were plated with gold-colored metal. (Not sure what it is exactly.)
Photo snapped from the bus I take to go into Jerusalem, seen on top of the hill.
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From inside Gornensky, you see the village of Ein Kerem (now part of Jerusalem) nestled in the valley of the Jerusalem Hills.
The top of the ridge on the far horizon is already the West Bank.
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When I visited the convent in October they were building some small new building.
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Italian bloggers especially, enlarge the photo and read the fine print!
Those are stacks of Territalia terracotta roof tiles. Their website says they export a lot of them to the Middle East.
The Cunial family has been making tiles for 120 years and they now produce 25 million tiles per year.
Don't you love that logo of a tortoise with a shingled shell?
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Braids, brooms, benches, buckets, and bells

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UPDATE June 11, 2017:  For Western Christians today is Trinity Sunday.  But for Orthodox today is All Saints.  In Israel it is called the Feast of All the Saints of the Holy Land.  Here one of my earlier posts about the beautiful old Russian Orthodox Gorny convent and church in Ein Kerem, near Jerusalem.  See other posts about it here.
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Bells, buckets, benches, brooms, and braids -- all for ABC Wednesday -- and all were found at the Gorny Convent (aka "Moskovia").
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Russians built the convent in 1871, but the big church was "on hold" for over a century. Just a few years ago it was finally finished, complete with golden domes.
Click on the photo to better see the black bells in the belfry and the braided trees in the three pots.


Anyone know how they DO that braiding?!


Black-clad Russian Orthodox nuns often work with brooms around the brown benches near the older, smaller church.
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Hung between the trees is a simandron (or nakos in Arabic).

Why this had to replace church bells during Ottoman times is explained in an earlier post.

And to hear my video of the simandron being hammered on (in an Armenian church), please click here.

Buckets are indispensable when you live in a rural setting.

Gorny (or Gornensky) Convent has a huge area within its walls.

It clings to the side of the mountain near Ein Kerem.

From my village it is just a 45-minute walk, but entering the gate is like stepping into another time and place, much removed.

(For more about Gorny see the official website of the Moscow Patriarchate - Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem. They also have a video of the convent in one of our rare snow days.)

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UPDATE: Jedediah supplied a webpage about braiding a money tree, also with videos.

Vielen Dank, Jennifer!

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(Linking to inSPIREd Sunday, the meme about houses of worship.)
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Nuns in the olive branches

Judging from the lack of olives on the trees in my neighborhood, this seems to be an off-year.
Olive trees have what is called alternate-year bearing.

These Russian women, however, were diligently picking every olive they could find.

This nice scene was at the Gorny (or Gornensky) Convent for Women last month.
The woman in black is a nun but I'm not sure about the others. Maybe they were nuns in mufti (in civilian clothes). Sort of like in "play clothes."
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Gorny is a huge walled-in area built by the Russians in 1871. On the slope above Ein Kerem.

It is just 45 minutes walk from my house, but to enter the locked gate of the convent is to enter another world.
As if a village in old Czarist Russia had been lifted up and plopped down in the Jerusalem Hills.
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