Holy Trinity Church was built in 1872 and served as a spiritual center for the many Russian pilgrims who came to Jerusalem in the 19th century.
Recently I was walking past it, in Jerusalem's Moscow Square, when I saw a nun come out. Without thinking twice, I grabbed the door and asked in sign language if I might enter and she nodded.
Wow, I was finally inside! And a service was in progress!
I was unfortunately not wearing the required head scarf and skirt, so I stood in the narthex, sort of hiding behind the door. The men's choir upstairs was so glorious that, after two hours, I could no longer resist my blogger's temptation and took out the camera for a furtive 19-second video.
When the Russian Orthodox priests in their splendid vestments came around incensing the several dozen worshipers, the head priest and I--our eyes locked in a second of intense mutual curiousity.
Soon a nun came and, smiling, excitedly asked me a long question in Russian. I shrugged and said, "English? Hebrew?" She knew only Russian, and that was the end of it. I still wonder what she asked. . . .
The story of the church in the Russian Compound, now in downtown Jerusalem, can be read at
and in Russian: http://www.rusdm.ru/ .
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This post is a gift to Irina at the wonderful Moscow Daily Photo. Today she showed us a replica of the Western Wall outside the Moscow Synagogue!
Their synagogue was built about the same time as our Holy Trinity Church!
