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On the Day of the Baptism of Rus’, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrates Liturgy at the Cathedral of the Assumption in Moscow Kremlin
DECR Communication Service, 28. 07.2022.
On July 28, the Commemoration Day of the Holy Great Prince Vladimir Equal-to-the-Apostles, the church-state feast of the Baptism of Rus’, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Assumption in the Moscow Kremlin.
The Bishops’ Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, which took place fr om June 24 to 29, 2008, in Moscow, resolved that the memory of the Baptism of Russia be celebrated on the Day of the Holy Prince Vladimir Equal-to-the-Apostle on 15/28 July ‘according to the statute of a great feast paying homage to the baptizer of Rus’.
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill was assisted by a great assembly of concelebrants including heads of Moscow Patriarchate departments, deans of church districts, abbots of Patriarchal monasteries, rectors and clergy of churches in Moscow and Moscow Region.
A reliquary with a particle of the relics of the Holy Great Prince Vladimir was brought from the Cathedral Church of Christ the Saviour to the Cathedral of the Assumption.
Among the worshippers were abbesses, monks and nuns from Moscow Patriarchal monasteries and convents, parishioners from Moscow churches and pilgrims. Among the worshippers were also children from bereaved families in the Donetsk People’s Republic and in the liberated parts of the Kharkov Region and Lugansk People’s Republic.
The service was broadcast by TV channels ‘Soyuz’ and ‘Spas’ and by the official website of the Russian Orthodox Church ‘Patriarchia.ru’.
During the Prayer of Fervant Supplication, special petitions were voiced composed for the Day of the Baptism of Rus’.
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill read a special prayer recited on the Day of the Baptism of Rus’.
After the Liturgy, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill addressed the worshippers, ‘Now we will celebrate Thanksgiving. We will begin to do it here, in the Cathedral of the Assumption, and then we will move together to the monument to Prince Vladimir and there, at the monument, will conclude our prayerful singing and today’s liturgical celebration of the great and salvific day when we remember Prince Vladimir who baptized Rus’ and led our people out of the darkness of paganism and opened a way to seeking sanctity and virtue - all that has become the spiritual pivot of our people. May God grant that this pivot may never and by no way be shaken. If the one’s life, culture, education and professional work and especially one’s personal life is formed around this pivot, then we will be real heirs of the great treasure handed down to us by our righteous ancestors who received it from the Holy Great Prince Vladimir Equal-to-the-Apostle. May the Lord preserve the Russian land through his intercession. Amen’.
Then a procession with a cross walked through the Kremlin’s Borovitsky Gates to the monument to the Holy Great Prince Vladimir Equal-to-the-Apostles, wh ere His Holiness presided over a thanksgiving.
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