On 10 February 2012, officers of the Russian Embassy to Israel celebrated their professional holiday – Diplomats’ Day. According to tradition, the diplomats came to the representation of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jaffa to pay homage to the first vice-consul of the Russian Empire in Palestine, Vladimir Nikolayevich Timofeyev, who is buried near the sanctuary apse of the Russian church.
The head of the Mission, Archimandrite Isidore (Minayev) celebrated a requiem litiya for the late diplomats. Attending the service were Sergei Yakovlev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the State of Israel; minister-counsellor Anatoly Yurkov; head of the Consular Department Ruslan Kandaurov; military attaché colonel Pavel Subbotin; and representative of the Russian Federation to the Palestinian National Authority, Alexander Rudakov, website of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission reports.
In his pastoral homily, archimandrite Isidore (Minayev) said that the work of diplomats was difficult and responsible. “Today we remember all deceased diplomats in our prayers, and we greet all those who fulfill their mission at present and wish them God’s help, strength and joy.”
The diplomats laid a wreath at the tomb of vice-consul Vladimir Timofeyev. The Russian Cultural Centre in Tel Aviv gave a reception on the occasion of Diplomats’ Day. A message of greetings from Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was read out, and the Russian Ambassador to Israel, Sergei Yakovlev, warmly greeted his colleagues.