CMI Commencement Day begins with common prayer of the rector, faculty and student

On June 19, 2019, the commemoration day of his heavenly patron – St. Hilarion the New and the 32th anniversary of his monastic vows, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, DECR chairman and rector of the Ss Cyril and Methodius Institute of Post-Graduate Studies (CMI), celebrated Divine Liturgy in the church of Holy Martyrs Michael and Theodore the Brothers of Chernigov of the Chernigov Patriarchal Representation in Moscow, in whose compound the CMI is accommodated with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill.

Among His Eminence’s concelebrants were rectors and pro-rectors of the Russian Orthodox Church’s theological academies and seminaries, representatives of the ROC education and mission departments, the CMI staff members and graduates in holy orders.

Among the worshippers in the sanctuary was Archbishop Filaret of Lvov and Galich.

Present at the liturgy were presidents and representatives of Russian universities and the CMI staff members, faculty and students.

After the Prayer of Fervent Supplication, Metropolitan Hilarion lifted up a prayer for peace in Ukraine.

After the service, Archbishop Filaret addressed the CMI rector congratulating him on his name day. “For us as monks and hierarchs, it is the time when we remember the day of our monastic vows as the most important one in our lives”, he said. He also conveyed to Metropolitan Hilarion a blessing from His Beatitude Onufry, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Ukraine.

The next speaker, the CMI pro-rector for academic work D. Shmonin, congratulated His Eminence on behalf of the faculty of the CMI, which has been headed by the metropolitan for already 10 years now.

Archpriest Pavel Gorbunov, the Saransk Seminary pro-rector for tutorial work who spoke on behalf of the CMI graduates, stressed the unique quality of the educational process in the CMI and the important efforts made by the CMI to develop theological education in today’s Russia.

In his address to the congregation, Metropolitan Hilarion focused on the CMI’s call to offer advanced knowledge to those who have already graduated from seminaries and theological academies, Orthodox institutes and universities as well as to graduates of secular universities’ departments of theology and to give answers to questions not found in Holy Scriptures or Holy Fathers’ writings. “The Lord has placed on all of us – clergy, professors, students, graduates, one and the same apostolic task…, first, to come to a good knowledge of Holy Scriptures and Church Traditions and to search for answers in them to questions arising today; secondly, to learn to formulate these answers based on Holy Scriptures and Tradition in a language intelligible for people”, he said.

“We should not harbor an illusion that our preaching will be more successful by human measures than the preaching of Jesus Christ or numerous martyrs who suffered in the name of Christ. But our Saviour promised us all that the gates of hell will not prevail over the Church of Christ and the Lord gives us in the celebration of the Divine Liturgy the strength and grace necessary for performing this apostolic feat”, His Eminence said in conclusion.

DECR Communication Service