6day pilgrimage tour to the Holy Land 26/9-1/10/2011

25/9/2011.
Meeting at El. Venizelos Airport at 23:30 pm.

Day 1: 26/9/2011
Mount of Olives – Holy Monastery of the Holy Cross - Katamonas
Following passport control we will take a flight to Tel Aviv. Upon our arrival we will board our bus and be transferred to our hotel in Jerusalem. There we will check-in and rest. Our tour will begin after 11:00am. We will visit the Mount of Olives, from where our Lord ascended. This is where we will find the Greek Church of Men of Galilee where Jesus met His Apostles for the first time after His Resurrection. We will also visit the Holy Monastery of the Holy Cross and the Holy Monastery of St Simon of Katamonas. Return to the hotel. Dinner. Overnight stay.

Day 2: 27/9/2011. Exaltatio Sanctae Crucis ("Raising Aloft of the Holy Cross").
Old City of Jerusalem - Patriarchate – Gesthemane – Tomb of the Virgin Mary
Following breakfast we transferred to the Church of the Ascension, where we will participate in the Hierarchical Concelebration. Then, we will form of a procession and go to the Patriarchate where the Patriarch will welcome us.
This will be followed by a tour and pilgrimage of the Holy Sepulchre, the Church of the Ascension, the chapel of the Finding of the Holy Cross, as well as the Holy Apocathylosis (unmounting of Jesus), Golgotha and other pilgrimages. We will also visit over ten chapels located in the vicinity such as the tomb of Joseph, the chapel of "Do not touch Me" or of Mary Magdalene, the burial place of Adam’s skull, the chapels of St Longinus and St Helena, the Pillar of the Whipping, etc. As we walk down the Via Dolorosa (Latin for Way of Suffering), the road taken by Jesus as He carried the Cross, we will visit the Praetorium, home to Pontius Pilatus, the Roman leader. We will continue onto the Prison of St Peter and the home of St Anne and end up at St Stephen’s Gate. Our next stop will be at Gethsemane, where we will visit the Garden of Agony and pilgrimage at the Tomb of the Virgin Mary. Here we will also find the chapels with the bones of Joseph, the husband of Mary as well as those of the Sts Joakim and Anne (parents of the Virgin Mary). Return to the hotel, dinner, overnight stay.

Day 3: 28/9/2011.
Bethlehem – Monastery of St. Savvas – Monastery of St. Theodosius – Holy Monastery of Prophet Elijah
Following breakfast we will transferred to Bethlehem. Upon our arrival we will be guided through the Church of the Nativity and we will pilgrimage at Christ’s birthplace. We will also visit the Church of the Shepherds, with the Monastery Church “Glory to God”. This shall be followed by a pilgrimage at the Holy Monastery of St Theodosius of Cenobiarch. In the basement, near the Church are the tombs of St Theodosius and his mother St Evlogia, St Sofia (the mother of the St Savvas), St Theodoti (mother of the Holy Apostles Kosmas and Damian), St Maria (mother of the Sts Arkadius and Ioannis) and 35 other martyr saints. Pilgrimage (optional) at the Holy Monastery of the glorified St Savvas at the desert of Judea, where we will pilgrimage his full-bodied relics. We will also see the Holy Monastery of Prophet Elijah, which is located on the Jerusalem-Bethlehem main road. The Monastery, which was named after him, was built by Bishop Elijah in the 12th century. Our next stop will be the Holy Monastery of Martha and Maria in Bethany. Arrival at our hotel in Jericho, dinner, overnight stay.

Day 4: 29/9/2011.
Actual Baptism Site of Jesus Christ - Desert of Jordan - Saint Jerome of Jordan – Jericho – Mount of Temptation
In the morning we will travel to the River of Jordan, the Actual Baptism Site of Jesus Christ. We will continue onto the Orthodox Monasteries in the Desert of Jordan, starting off with the Holy Monastery of St George of Chozeba. We will also visit the Holy Monastery of St Jerome of Jordan, who is depicted with a lion, one of the greatest spiritual forms of the ascetic life of the Holy Land. We will visit the Church of St Elisha the Prophet, built by a Christian from Agiasos, Lesvos, where we will see Zacchaeus’ sycamore. This will be followed by a pilgrimage at Mount of Temptation, were Jesus spent 40 days and 40 nights fasting, located to the southwest of Jericho (Monastery of Temptation). Return to our hotel in Jericho. Dinner. Overnight stay.

Day 5: 30/9/2011
Galilee-Mount Tabor-Nazareth-Cana-Tiberias-Mount Beatitudes-Jordan.
Following breakfast we will depart for Galilee, where we will visit Mount Tabor, the place where the Transfiguration of Christ took place. This is located close to Nazareth and Capernaum, areas where Jesus lived and taught. We will pilgrimage at the Holy Monastery of the Transfiguration and we will then be transferred to the village where Jesus spent His childhood and adolescent years in Nazareth; there we will visit the Church of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary. In Nazareth we will find the home in which the Virgin Mary lived and Joseph’s workshop.
Our tour will continue with a pilgrimage at Cana, where Christ performed His first miracle, the conversion of water to wine and blessed marriage. We will then go on to the Church of Holy Apostles at Lake Tiberias at Capernaum, which is the only natural reservoir in the region. We will also visit Mount Beatitudes and the city of Tiberias, where we will pilgrimage at Church of Holy Apostles Peter and Paul and St Magdalene. The pilgrims will then participate in a symbolic baptism and be sprinkled with Holy Water at the river of Jordan. Return to our hotel, dinner, overnight stay.

Day 6: 1/10/2011
Tel Aviv – Athens flight.
We will check-out from the hotel early in the morning in order to depart for Tel Aviv Airport. On our way to the airport will visit the tomb of St George at Lydda.