New Exarch

New Exarch in
white mitre

Yesterday was a big day for the Armenian Catholic community in Jerusalem. A new Exarch was installed. That's equal to an archbishop. All major catholic bishops were there for the liturgy at the 3rd Station including the nuncio. The new Exarch received the pastoral staff as a symbol of his authority. The parish priest had to be the choir as there was no one else ... but luckily our armenian seminarian and I were also there so we helped out in the singing. It was great. I must say my armenian has improved a lot.

After the liturgy there was a reception in the courtyard and it was good to meet with the rest of the community. Then there was a dinner but I didn't want to go. It was all big shots and bishops and I felt out of place so I went home instead for dinner.

Church in Ephraim

Today I left very early for Nablus. I had to bring food and medicine to the MC sisters. It's a good distance to get there ... almost 180km winding round mountains and valleys. But in a direct line, it's only 49km. There was a lot of stuff and so I got a couple of students to help. On the way we visited Jacob's well and ancient Shechem; and on the way back we visited Ephraim where Jesus spent the last week after raising Lazarus but before going back to Jerusalem to die. It's a lovely church in a totally christian village. It was a tiring journey but I enjoyed it.

Tomorrow is another busy day ... so I'll go to sleep early. At least I've distributed the food and medicines on time.