MGR NATALE ALBINO Secretary of the Apostolic Delegation in Jerusalem and Palestine and of the Apostolic Nunciature in Israel Nicholas the Pilgrim is an eleventh-century Greek boy, born in 1075, who met Jesus when he was eight years old and received from him the prayer of the heart. The Lord taught him to continuously repeat Kyrie eleison. So many people today find it difficult to pray and say they have no time to pray. Here is this prayer of the ejaculatoria. The continuous repetition Kyrie eleison is a very easy prayer to do, because it is really quick and then condenses the great foundations of our faith, that is Kyrie, the divinity of Jesus is eleison, our misery. We know the tales of a Russian pilgrim that are from the 1800s and are false because they tell of a story created from scratch. Although it condenses the great and great Orthodox spiritual tradition. In contrast, in the case of Nicholas the Pilgrim we are talking about a person from the 11th century who really existed. In the East there are many saints who lived in this way, practising the Jesus Prayer every day of their lives. In the West, however, St Nicholas is the only saint we can call an apostle of the prayer of the heart. This profound experience, although small, marked him and he took it everywhere in Greece and then he wanted to take it to Europe as well. In particular, at the age of 16 he wanted to start a great pilgrimage to Rome to venerate the tombs of the apostles Peter and Paul. A decidedly singular choice at the time because, coming from a Greek Orthodox background, it was a path of faith that unwittingly united the two parts of the Mediterranean that were, shall we say, separating. This great pilgrimage of his to Rome took him to Otranto, and then to other cities in Apulia, on his way back to which he died, in Trani, due to the beatings and difficulties of the journey and the many misunderstandings he suffered in his wanderings. Pope Urban II, Blessed Urban II, wanted to be canonised in 1099 with one of the first canonisations in history since, until then, it was not strictly pontifical competence to proclaim a person a saint. He was venerated as a saint by Catholics and remained so for about nine centuries. In 2023, the Greek Orthodox of Italy included him in their liturgical calendar; thus, they also admitted him to the worship of the Greek Orthodox faithful. He is one of the very few saints to be venerated by Catholics and Orthodox after the schism of 1054. Thus, unintentionally, he became in his person a sign of unity between Orthodox and Catholics. St Nicholas was a layman, who died at the age of 18, so he has a lot of originality within him and his testimony has a lot to say to pilgrims who come to the Holy Land today. According to ancient sources, pilgrims who embarked from Apulia to the Holy Land in the Middle Ages invoked him on the way, but also because his style of pilgrimage is also very indicative for those who come to the Holy Land here in Jerusalem today. His perception of the journey was the opportunity to walk every step and every beat with the Lord, thinking of Him always and converting to Him in every moment of one's life.