Russian Orthodox Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem

The first Russian Orthodox Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem was sent in 1847 under the leadership of Archimandrite Porphyrius Uspensky, but was not recognized by the Ottoman Turkish government that at that time ruled Palestine.

He was succeeded by Archimandrite Leonid Kavelin, under whose leadership the Mission transferred its headquarters from its first home at Holy Archangels' Monastery to its own property, now known as Jerusalem's Russian Compound.

Leonid's successor, renowned Byzantologist Antonin Kapustin, the Mission significantly expanded its presence in Palestine, acquiring multiple properties in an effort to preserve Orthodox Christian holy places and care for the needs of the many pilgrims flocking to the region.

Despite the privations suffered by the Mission it was able top reopen the churches and even start a new school for girls in Bethany, establish the Gethsemane Convent of St. Mary Magdalene, and purchase land along the banks of the Jordan River.

In addition to the financial difficulties faced by the Mission in the post-World War I era it also had to deal with the divisions within Russian Orthodoxy that came about following the imprisonment of Patriarch St. Tikhon of Moscow and All Rus' by the Soviet government and his subsequent death.

When it lost contact with the Moscow Patriarchate in 1920, the Mission's leadership submitted to the Synod Abroad organized for the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia by Metropolitan Anthony Khrapovitsky of Kiev.

The forcible expulsion of their monks and caretakers soured the already strained relations between the two Missions, which did not begin to recover until the reconciliation of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia in 2007.

The current (as of February 2013) Acting Chief of the ROCOR Mission is Hieromonk Roman (Krassovsky), formerly of Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York.