Primate of Russian Church celebrates great consecration of Dormition Cathedral in Tashkent
On 1 October 2017, 17th Sunday after Pentecost, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia performed the rite of great consecration of the Cathedral of the Holy Dormition in Tashkent, where the restoration work had been completed. After that the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the newly consecrated church.
Concelebrating with His Holiness 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; Metropolitan Kirill of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturye; Archbishop Foefilakt of Pyatigorsk and Cherkessk; Archbishop Sergy of Solnechnogorsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Administrative Secretariat; Bishop Pitirim of Dushanbe and Tajikistan; Bishop Vasily of Kotlas and Velsk; Bishop Daniil of Bishkek and Kyrgyzstan; Archpriest Mikhail Kotlyarov, a cleric of the Dormition Cathedral in Tashkent; Archpriest Igor Balukhatin, rector of the Church of St. Vladimir in Tashkent, dean of the Tashkent district; Rev. Alexander Volkov, head of the Patriarchal Press Service; and the clergy of the Tashkent diocese.
Among those present were Mr. R.T. Kamilov, State Advisor to the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan; Mr. Ortiqbek Yusupov, chairman of the Committee on Religious Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan; Mr. Saidikram Niyazkhodjaev, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan; and Mr. Vladimir Legoyda, chairman of the Synodal Department for Church-Society and Media Relations.
After the Liturgy Metropolitan Vikenty of Tashkent and Uzbekistan greeted His Holiness on behalf of the clergy and lay people and presented him with an icon of the Holy Prince Vladimir, Equal-to-the-Apostles.
The Primate of the Russian Church addressed the worshippers with a Primatial homily.
In consideration of Metropolitan Vikenty’s service, His Holiness presented him with a panagia and a cross made on the occasion of the millennium of the passing of the Holy Prince Vladimir, Equal-to-the-Apostles.
Later that day His Holiness Patriarch Kirill blessed the construction site of the Centre of Orthodox Education and Culture and of the Museum of Christian History in Central Asia, located in the territory of the Religious and Administrative Centre of the Tashkent diocese.
The same day His Holiness also had a brief meeting with the Orthodox youth of Tashkent.
Patriarchal Press Service/
DECR Communication Service
Photo by the Patriarchal Press Service