On Saturday, October 12, 2019, the Consecration of the Holy Church of Saint Savvas the Sanctified was held, at the Greek Orthodox Arab-Speeking Community of town Yafaan Nasirah, near the city of Nazareth, where our Lord Jesus Christ lived and because of which, He was called Nazarene.
This Holy Church, initially built in the 12th century, and now renovated and dedicated to Saint Savvas, reminds us through its presence and name of the fact that the pastoral activity of St. Savvas, which began in the 5th century from his great Monastery-Lavra in Judea, had also reached Galilee, where he constructed Churches and Monasteries, according to his biographer Cyril of Skythopolis.
According to the typikon order of our Orthodox Church, the service of the Consecration was officiated by Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem, with the co-celebration of the local Metropolitan Kyriakos of Nazareth, Archbishop Philoumenos of Pella, Metropolitan Joachim of Helenoupolis, Hagiotaphite Hieromonks, among whom Archimandrite Artemios, the Supervisor of this Community Steward Fr. Gabriel Nadaf, and from afar, the Spiritual Father of the Lavra of St. Savvas Archimandrite Eudokimos, who brought the relics of the slaughtered Fathers of St. Savvas’ Monastery, for the Holy Altar, the Master of Ceremonies Archimandrite Bartholomew, Archdeacon Mark and Deacon Eulogios. The chanting was delivered by the Novice Monk Constantine in Greek and the Nazareth Community choir in Arabic, with the participation in prayer of the Community members and faithful from many parishes of Nazareth and Galilee.
Source: Patriarhcate of Jerusalem