Primate of Russian Church consecrates Church of Beheading of St John the Baptist in Moscow and celebrates Liturgy in newly consecrated church
On 1 November 2015, 22nd Sunday after Pentecost, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia administered the rite of consecration of the Church of the Beheading of St John the Baptist in-the-Woods, which is a part of the complex of the Patriarchal Metochion of the Chernigov Wonderworkers in Moscow, and officiated at the Divine Liturgy in the newly consecrated church.
The year 2015 marks the 600th anniversary of the foundation of the Metochion of the Chernigov Wonderworkers. Nowadays, Ss Cyril and Methodius Theological Institute of Postgraduate Studies is located in the territory of the Metochion.
Concelebrating with the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church were Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Rector of Ss Cyril and Methodius Theological Institute of Postgraduate Studies; Bishop Sergiy of Solnechnogorsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Administrative Secretariat; Archpriest Vladimir Divakov, Secretary of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia for the city of Moscow; Archpriest Nikolai Krechetov, dean of the Moskvoretsky District in Moscow; Archpriest John Behr, Dean of St Vladimir’s Theological Seminary in New York; Archpriest Vladimir Shmaliy, Vice-Rector for Academic Research of Ss Cyril and Methodius Theological Institute of Postgraduate Studies; and Hieromonk Ioann (Kopeykin), Vice-Rector for Education of Ss Cyril and Methodius Theological Institute of Postgraduate Studies.
After the Litany of Fervent Supplication, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church offered up a prayer for peace in Ukraine and a prayer for the repose of the passengers and crew of the Kogalymavia plane, which crashed in Egypt on October 31, while flying from Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg.
After the Liturgy His Holiness Patriarch Kirill addressed the worshippers with a Primatial homily, calling them to pray for the victims of the plane crash in Egypt.
Metropolitan Hilarion thanked His Holiness for consecrating the church and informed him that the Academic Board of Ss Cyril and Methodius Theological Institute of Postgraduate Studies had made a decision to confer on His Holiness Patriarch Kirill a degree of Doctor of Divinity honoris causa.
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia expressed his gratitude to Metropolitan Hilarion, saying in particular, “I thank you, Your Eminence, for your words, but also, first of all, for your efforts to revive the Metochion of the Chernigov Wonderworkers, for your efforts to establish Ss Cyril and Methodius Theological Institute, and for your work as head of numerous groups which are preparing new course books for our seminaries, as well as for your active participation in the work of the Supreme Church Council.”
Later that day the Primate of the Russian Church, accompanied by Metropolitan Hilarion, visited Ss Cyril and Methodius Theological Institute of Postgraduate Studies.
Press Service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia/
DECR Communication Service