Official Ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the temple for Russian pilgrims on the saint River Jordan

On March 24, 2008, the official ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the temple for Russian pilgrims was held on the saint River Jordan. The following people took part in the ceremony: His Eminence Tikhon, Head of Russian Orthodox Mission on the Holy Land, Mr. Vladimir Kozhin, President Administrator, Mr. Leonid Bokhanovskiy, First Vice-President of “Stroitransgaz”, Mr. Alexander Kalugin, Ambassador of Russia in Jordan, Mr. A.Sokolov, Consul of Russia in Jordan, Mr. Valeriy Kononenko, Deputy Chairman of Russian Part of Russian-Jordanian Business Council, Chairman of the Committee of Culture, Tourism, Religion and Cooperation with Public Organizations, Mrs. Maha Khatib, Jordan Minister of Tourism, Mr. Dia Al Madani, Director of the Baptism of Jesus Christ in the Jordan River Complex, executives of international and public organizations, and other officials.

King Abdallah II allocated 1 hectare of land by the saint Jordan River near the place of the official baptism of Jesus Christ as a sign of respect to the Russian nation and to all orthodox Russians.

Allocating the land was a response to Russia’s actions taken for establishing long-term trade and economic, scientific and technical, religious and cultural interrelations with Jordan.

Building the temple for Russian pilgrims on the saint land will promote a substantial increase the number of pilgrims from Russia, which in its turn will help to bring Russians and Jordanians together in the struggle for peace, harmony and mutually beneficial partnership.