On July 7, in the city of Zahle (Lebanon), the rite of consecration of the domed crosses of the temple under construction in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "Unexpected Joy" was performed.
The crosses were consecrated by Metropolitan Niphon of Philippopolis, representative of the Patriarch of Antioch at the Moscow Patriarchal See in the concelebration of Metropolitan Anthony of Zahle-Baalbek and Archimandrite Philip (Vasiltsev), representative of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia at the Patriarchal See of Antioch, the website of the Metochion reports.
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Lebanon A.N. Rudakov and his wife and employees of the Russian Embassy in Lebanon prayed at the service.
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The church in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "Unintentional Joy" has been built by Metropolitan Niphon of Philippopolis with the assistance of the Russian Orthodox Church since 2019. The consecration of the foundation stone was performed by His Beatitude Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East. On November 8, 2021, Metropolitan Anthony of Korsun and Western Europe (now Metropolitan of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations), head of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for Foreign Institutions, visited the construction site. During the visit of Metropolitan Anthony, a capsule with a commemorative certificate was laid. The project of the temple in honor of the icon of the Mother of God "Unintentional Joy" is made in the Russian architectural style.