His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrates Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour on the Sunday of Orthodoxy
On 20 March 2016, first Sunday of Lent, feast day of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia celebrated the Liturgy of St Basil the Great and the rite of the Triumph of Orthodoxy at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. That day was marked by the main celebrations on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of episcopal consecration of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill. The actual date was March 14, Monday of the first week of Lent.
Concelebrating with His Holiness were: Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna, Patriarchal vicar of the Moscow diocese; Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations; Metropolitan Valentin (Mischuk); Metropolitan Arseny of Istra, first vicar of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia in the city of Moscow; Archbishop Yevgeny of Vereya, chairman of the Education Committee of the Russian Orthodox Church, rector of the Moscow theological schools; Archbishop Feognost of Sergiev Posad, chairman of the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism, abbot of the Laura of the Holy Trinity and St Sergius; Bishop Gury (Shalimov); Bishop Tikhon of Vidnoye; Bishop Roman of Serpukhov; Bishop Sergiy of Solnechnogorsk, head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Moscow Patriarchate; Bishop Iyeronim (Chernyshov); Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuyevo, chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Ministry; Bishop Savva of Voskresensk, abbot of the Novospassky Stavropegic Monastery in Moscow, first deputy chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate; Bishop Nikolai of Balashikha; Bishop Konstantin of Zaraysk; Bishop Tikhon of Yegoryevsk, executive secretary of the Patriarchal Council for Culture, abbot of the Sretensky Stavropegic Monastery in Moscow; Bishop Antony of Bogorodsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Administration for Institutions Abroad; Bishop Paramon of Bronnitsy, abbot of the Donskoy Stavropegic Monastery in Moscow; Archpriest Vladimir Divakov, Patriarchal secretary for Moscow; archpriest Mikhail Ryazantsev, sacristan of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour; archpriest Nikolai Balashov, DECR vice-chairman; Archimandrite Mirian (Shengelia) (Georgian Orthodox Church), a cleric of the Church of the Great Martyr George in Moscow; and clergy of the Moscow diocese.
Concelebrating with the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church were also representatives of the Local Orthodox Churches to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia: Metropolitan Athanasios of Kyrene (Orthodox Church of Alexandria); Metropolitan Nifon of Philipoppolis (Orthodox Church of Antioch); Bishop Antonije of Moravicí (Orthodox Serbian Church); Archimandrite Feoktist (Dimitrov) (Orthodox Bulgarian Church); Archimandrite Seraphim (Shemyatovsky) (Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia); Archimandrite Alexander (Pihach) (Orthodox Church in America).
Among those who attended the service were Mr. Alexander Beglov, Plenipotentiary Envoy of the President of the Russian Federation to the Central Federal District; Mr. Igor Barinov, head of the Federal Agency for Nationality Affairs; Mr. Konstantin Dolgov, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Mr. Vladimir Chernikov, head of the Department for Multicultural Policy, Interregional Coopeartion and Tourism of the city of Moscow; and Mr. Sergey Malyshev, vice-president of the MMC Norilsk Nickel; as well as Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of a number of countries: Ms Danae-Magdalini Koumanakou of the Hellenic Republic; Mr. Georgios Kasoulides of the Republic of Cyprus; Mr. Slavenko Terzić of the Republic of Serbia; Mr. Emilio Lozada Garcia of the Republic of Cuba; Mr. Igor Akhba of the Republic of Abkhazia; and Mr. Znaur Gassiyev of the Republic of South Ossetia.
The Litany of Fervent Supplication was followed by a prayer for peace in Ukraine, said by the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.
After the Liturgy, Metropolitan Juvenaly read out a congratulatory address of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the episcopal consecration of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill.
The Primate of the Russian Church delivered a homily. The rite of the Triumph of Orthodoxy followed.
Press Service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia/
DECR Communication Service