Egor Skopenko, Executive Director of the Foundation for the Support of Christian Culture and Heritage, was awarded the Jerusalem Order of the Orthodox Crusaders of the Holy Sepulchre II degree (golden cross with crown and wreath), the highest ecclesiastical award of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church.
The award was presented to Yegor Skopenko by His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilus III of Jerusalem during the visit of a representative of the Foundation to the Jerusalem Patriarchate on March 4, 2024.
His Beatitude Patriarch expressed special gratitude to the Foundation for the Support of Christian Culture and Heritage in the person of Yegor Skopenko for invaluable assistance in such a difficult time for the Jerusalem Orthodox Church, high professionalism, and also expressed gratitude for the support and readiness of the Foundation to provide prompt assistance in the needs of the Patriarchate.
The Patriarch also emphasized the value of the warm relations that have developed between the Jerusalem Orthodox Church and the Foundation for the Support of Christian Culture and Heritage in the person of Egor Skopenko, and expressed hope for further fruitful cooperation.
As a sign of gratitude, Yegor Skopenko presented His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilus III with the book "Russian Folk Tales. Palekh, mstera, kholui" in English, illustrated by the painter of the Palekh school Alexei Orleansky, as well as a gift book "The Heritage of Russia" in English.
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The Order of the Orthodox Crusaders of the Holy Sepulchre is a golden cross with an elongated lower end framed by a rim. In the upper part of the cross there is a crown with a ribbon attachment, in the lower part there is a reliquary with a particle of the Life–Giving Cross of the Lord.
On the reverse side of the cross is the Greek inscription ΕΝ ΤΟΥΤΩ VΙΚΑ ("This is victory") at the four ends of the cross and ΕΝ ΕΤΕΙ 312 ("in the year 312") at the bottom: both inscriptions indicate the fateful sign of the Cross, revealed to the equal-to-the-Apostles Tsar Constantine the Great in 312. The cross is accompanied by a pectoral star of the order – a silver eight-pointed star with the order's cross in the center.
The award is very honorable and rare. It is awarded exclusively by the Patriarch of Jerusalem for his significant contribution to the support and development of Christian traditions, interfaith dialogue to ensure religious harmony and peace, and merits in the preservation of Christian shrines in the Holy Land.
Thus, the Order of the Orthodox Crusaders of the Holy Sepulchre was awarded to the late abbess of the Gornensky Convent in Jerusalem, Abbess George, in commemoration of her services to the Church.
In addition, academician N.P. Likhachev was awarded a similar Order of the Holy Sepulchre for presenting a scientific work to Patriarch Damian of Jerusalem, for which he proclaimed the scientist a "knight of the Holy Sepulchre" on July 15, 1907 and, through his Moscow representative, presented him with a cross with a breast star.