Department for External Church Relations
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Heads of the Orthodox Churches of Alexandria and Russia celebrate Divine Liturgy at Annunciation Cathedral
On April 11, 2010, the Primates of the Orthodox Church of Alexandria and the Russian Orthodox Church celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Alexandria.
His Beatitude Patriarch Theodore and His Holiness Patriarch Kirill were assisted by archpastors of the Orthodox Church of Alexandria including Metropolitan Nicholas of Ermopoulis, Metropolitan Kallinikos of Pelusium, Bishop Nifon of Babylon, Bishop Ganadios of Nilopolis, as well as members of the official delegation of the Moscow Patriarchate including Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations, Bishop Sergiy of Solnechnogorsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s administrative secretariat, and clergy of the Patriarchates of Alexandria and Moscow.
The service was celebrated in three languages, Greek, Church Slavonic and Arabic. Some hymns of the Divine Liturgy were sung by the Moscow Synodal Choir conducted by A. Puzakov.
Present in the church were representatives of the Coptic Church and the Armenian Apostolic Church, as well as Russian Ambassador to Egypt M. Bogdanov, Greek Ambassador to Egypt Dimitrios Zevelakis and other officials. Among the worshippers were Orthodox scouts and students.
After the service the heads of the two Churches exchanges speeches of greetings and gifts. His Beatitude Theodore presented Patriarch Kirill with a cross and two pectoral icons. Pectoral icons were also given as gifts to Metropolitan Hilarion and Bishop Sergiy. Archpriest Nikolay Balashov, DECR vice-chairman, Rev. Igor Yakimchuk, DECR acting secretary for inter-Orthodox relations, Hegumen Leonid Gorbachev, Representative of the Patriarch of Moscow to the Patriarch of Alexandria, and Hieromonk Antony Sevriuk, head of the Patriarchal personal secretariat, received pectoral crosses. Protodeacon Vladimir Nazarkin and other members of the Russian delegation also received tokens of the meeting.
His Holiness Kirill, on his part, presented Patriarch Theodore with a set of a cross and two pectoral icons. Each of the concelebrants from the Patriarchate of Alexandria received pectoral icons.
The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church presented the Cathedral of the Annunciation with a copy of the Icon of Our Lady of Kazan, recalling that this icon is associated with the liberation of Russia from foreign invaders at a difficult historical period called the Time of Troubles. A few years ago the Day of Our Lady of Kazan began to be observed as a national holiday called the Day of People’s Unity.
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