JERUSALEM - The Assumptionist Community of St. Peter in Gallicantu welcomed some 70 visitors for the annual celebration of First Vespers on the feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, on Saturday evening, June 28, 2014, at 6:00pm. Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto, Nuncio and Apostolic Delegate, presided.

The Assumptionists inaugurated this event several years ago. Visitors are invited to begin the celebration on the stone stairway that dates to Maccabean times and on which Jesus certainly would have walked since it was one of the main thoroughfares between the Pool of Siloam and the Upper City. It was along this stairway that tradition locates the denial and repentance of Peter.

Fr. Jean-Daniel Gullung, superior of the Assumptionist community in Jerusalem, writes: "After reading the account of the arrest of Jesus in Gethsemane and his transfer to the high priest’s house, where Peter followed him from a distance, we climbed the holy stairs by following in the footsteps of Christ and Peter. Upon arrival at the courtyard we read the story of Jesus’ appearance before the High Priest, and Peter’s denial and repentance. We then entered the crypt for a time of meditation in front of the icons of Peter and Jesus, then proceeded to the Church for the chanting of Vespers presided over by Archbishop Giuseppe Lazzarotto, Nuncio and Apostolic Delegate."