Department for External Church Relations
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His Holiness Patriarch Kirill visits Convent of the Holy Trinity and St. Nicholas in Tashkent
On 29 September 2017, upon his arrival in Tashkent, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church visited the Convent of the Holy Trinity and St. Nicholas in the capital of Uzbekistan.
Among those meeting His Holiness at the holy gates of the abode were Metropolitan Vikenty of Tashkent and Uzbekistan, head of the Central Asia metropolitan area; Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations; Metropolitan Lev of Novgorod and Staraya Russa; Archbishop Sergy of Solnechnogorsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Administrative Secretariat; Bishop Pitirim of Dushanbe and Tajikistan; Bishop Daniil of Bishkek and Kyrgyzstan; Sister Yekaterina (Malgina), hegumenness of the Convent of the Holy Trinity and St. Nicholas; nuns of the abode; the clergy of the Tashkent diocese; and numerous Orthodox faithful of Tashkent.
Metropolitan Vikenty welcomed His Holiness to the convent’s church and presented him with a gift – a panagia with an icon of the Holy Trinity.
The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church addressed all those present, saying in particular:
“I am very glad that upon my arrival at the Tashkent airport the very first visit I am paying is to the Convent of the Holy Trinity and St. Nicholas. I know the history of this abode. I know that after it had been closed many nuns had to hide themselves in fear of repressions and work in secular institutions, but they remained faithful to the Church. People would come to some of them, and the nuns tought Orthodoxy to the generation that could not learn about the faith from any other source. Their hearts must have bled when they saw the convent closed, destroyed, profaned. However, the time came and the abode revived. Today it is an important spiritual centre of Tashkent and the entire Tashkent diocese. I would like to commemorate all those who managed to preserve the monastic tradition in Uzbekistan at a time when it was impossible even to think about monasteries. May the sisters of this abode today be also fully committed to their monastic vocation.
“It is very important for our monasteries to remain spiritual centres, so that people would gladly attend the monastic divine services, talk to monk and nuns, or ask for their prayers, and so that the prayers for the world, for people, would be offered in monastic communities. The primary obedience of a monk is to pray for those who are not able to pray like him.
“May the Lord preserve the Convent of the Holy Trinity and St. Nicholas! May its nuns succeed in their monastic endeavours! May more and more sisters lead monastic life here. We believe that through the prayers of those who devoted themselves to God, the Lord will also bestow mercy upon those who are far from a monastery’s walls.”
His Holiness also thanked Metropolitan Vikenty of Tashkent and Uzbekistan for taking archpastoral care of the convent and for his ministry as the head of the Central Asia metropolitan area.
To commemorate his visit, the Primate of the Russian Church presented the convent with an icon of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God.
Patriarchal Press Service/
DECR Communication Service
Photo by the Patriarchal Press Service
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