Dear faithful,
Today we began by celebrating the presanctified service in the cathedral of St. James the apostle which was built in the 4th century by the Empress St. Helen. It is adjacent to the entrance of Christ's tomb. I was invited to chant and read many of the hymns & psalms in english so the group would understand more of the service since it was mostly in arabic. During the moments of chanting my mind was humble by the fact that just steps away was the location where our God laid dead in the tomb before His resurrection. Following the service we were invited by the parish council president\head chanter for a bit of coffee and pastry. We were also blessed to have the mayor of the Christian community in old Jerusalem give us a tour of the Cathedral and showed us where the women stood looking on as Christ hung on the cross. At around 10:00 AM we started through the labyrinth of ancient streets to arrived at a local restaurant for a morning meal of humus and pita bread. The first part of the day was truly blessed by receiving Christ body and blood in the manner which has been celebrted for over 1,600 years. 

The afternoon was focused on learning about the causulties of the Israeli conflict. The situation is very sad. The State of Israel is definately the power which controls the economic, social and political rythem of this part of the world. They have been very successful in their military goals and as a resilt no one in the area are in position to challenge them. The largest group that is effected by their occupation is the palestinian community. It is hard not to become political when discussing this topic but all politics were put aside when we visited a palestinian family who was forced from thier home by the Israeli special forces. Even though this family now lives on the streets, the wives made us coffee as we heard their story. It is hard not to start questioning some of the messages that some of the media is giving us in the US. I was glad that the only response to these sufferings that our tour leader gave to us is to be like Christ and react in non-violence. We don't create peace through creating a war. An Armenian Orthodox woman lead the discussion so the the entire topic was placed in a context that Christ our Savior is the one who ultimately brings everlasting peace. Overall it was a blessed day but draining. Continue to pray for us all. 

In Christ,
Fr. Nick