A hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the first ever liturgy on Mindanao Island in the Philippines

On June 23-24, 2018, the administrator of the Moscow Patriarchate parishes in East and South-East Asia, Archbishop Sergiy of Solnechnogorsk, visited Orthodox communities of the Moscow Patriarchate in the Davao and Kotabato provinces in the Philippines. Those who accompanied the archpastor during his trip to Asia included Hieromonk Pitirim (Dondenko), secretary of the Moscow Patriarchate parishes administrator in East and South-East Asia and senior priest at the church of the Dormition in Singapore; Rev. George Maksimov of the St. Sergius of Radonezh church at Businovo, Moscow; Hierodeacon Juvenaly (Lapshin) cleric of the church of the Life-Giving Trinity at Ostankino, Moscow; D. Petrovsky, Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations; N. Sokolov and K. Marschuk of the Moscow Patriarchate administrative secretariat, sent on service to the Moscow Patriarchate communities in the Philippines; Rev. Stanislav Rasputin, Metropolia of Petrozavodsk; Hieromonk Korniliy (Molev), Metropolia of Belgorod; and Rev. Siluan Thompson (Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia mission in the Philippines), rector of the church of St. John of Shanghai at Santa Maria village on Mindanao Island.

On June 23, Archbishop Sergiy celebrated the first ever hierarchal divine service of the Russian Orthodox tradition on Mindanao Island at the chapel of the Parish of Blessed Matrona of Moscow. For the prayerful memory, His Eminence presented the parish with a lectern icon of the Blessed Matrona of Moscow.

On June 24, His Eminence celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God in the Arakan village, Kotabato province. It is the largest parish in the Philippines; on that day, over 150 people took the Holy Communion at the hierarchal liturgy.

After the liturgy, Archbishop Sergiy convey to the flock a blessing from His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and presented the parish with a set Eucharistic vessel and a lectern icon of the Nativity of the Moscow Holy Mother of God and Ever Virgin Mary.

Among the worshippers were Orthodox Philippians and Russians; the liturgy was celebrated in Church Slavonic, Sebuano and English.

On the same day, the Russian Orthodox Church delegation visited the Parish of St. Sergius of Radonezh in Makalongot and the Parish of Ss Peter and Paul in Salasan, where thanksgivings were celebrated to the heavenly patrons of these communities.

DECR Communication Service

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A hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates the first ever liturgy on Mindanao Island in the Philippines

Patriarch

Department Chairman

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Patriarch

Department Chairman

Sermons