On 22nd December at the Partriarchal church of Sts. Constantine and Helena the funeral service of His Beatitude Patriarch Diodoros of Holy City Jerusalem and All Palestine was held. After that the funeral procession went to Viri Galilei, where the Primate of the Jerusalem Church has been buried. The Russian Orthodox Church was represented by Metropolitan of Krutitsy and Kolomna Juvenaly, who at one time attended the enthronement of Patriarch Diodoros.

At the ceremony of burial Metropolitan Juvenaly read out the Message of Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy to Locum tenens of Patriarchal throne Metropolitan of Petra Cornelius and members of the Holy Synod.

Patriarch Alexy emphasized in it, that His Beatitude Diodoros left his flock orphaned "at the difficult time of trials, when bitterness has aggravated in the Holy Land and blood is shed, when the weak-spirited need the special support of the Primate". At the same time Patriarch Alexy expressed confidence that the Jerusalem Orthodox Church has found in the deceased Patriarch "the one who continuously prays before God about the pacification of enmity and hatred, about the accession of love and mutual understanding and about salvation of his faithful children".

In the Message it is also said about special love of Patriarch Diodoros for Russia, the Russian Orthodox Church and its believers. "No various historical circumstances and severe tribulations could have torn" the age-old ties uniting both Churches, noted Patriarch Aleksy.

The same day at the Monastery of Conception of Anna in Moscow the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church served the commemorating litia for Patriarch Diodoros. Patriarch Alexy underscored that "by this prayer we express gratitude to the fallen asleep in the Lord Primate from the whole of the Russian Church, which he always treated with much love".

The Head of the Russian Church spoke of Patriarch Diodoros as of a courageous and strong man, who had patiently endured the severe illness that had been tormenting him for five years, and tirelessly performed all his Primate's duties. Patriarch Alexy reminded, that at the invitation of His Beatitude Diodoros the Primates of the Local Orthodox Churches gathered in the jubilee year to celebrate the Divine Liturgy on the place of birth of the Saviour of the world. The spiritual Head of Jerusalem treated pilgrims from Russia with particular concern, reminded the Patriarch.

His Beatitude Diodoros (secular name Damian Karivalis) had Greek nationality and was the 139th Patriarch of Jerusalem. He was born on the island of Chios in Greece on 14 August 1923 in the many-children family of a priest. In 1938 he arrived in Jerusalem, where since 1944 he fulfilled the monastic obedience in the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre. In 1947 he was ordained hieromonk. He got theological education at the theological faculty of the Athens University, where he studied from 1952 to 1956. On his return to Jerusalem in 1957 he worked as an archivist and librarian at the Patriarchate. On 27 November 1962 he was ordained bishop with the title "Archbishop of Ierapolis". At the beginning of 1963 he was appointed the Patriarchal Representative in Amman and East Jordan. The election of Archbishop Diodoros the Primate of the Church of Jerusalem took place on 16 February 1981, the Order of Enthronement - on March 1st the same year.

The official title: "His Beatitude Patriarch of Holy City of Jerusalem and All Palestine".