Services celebrated at the Russian parish in Addis Ababa for the Feast of the Nativity of the Mother of God

DECR Communication service, 22.09.2026.

On the 21st of September 2026, the Feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, with the blessing of Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, and Metropolitan Constantine of Cairo and North Africa, Patriarchal Exarch of Africa, Hieromonk Stefan (Igumnov), DECR Secretary for Inter-Christian Affairs, celebrated a service of supplication with the blessing of water for Russian-speaking Orthodox faithful in Addis Ababa.

For the first time in recent history, an infant was baptised at the Russian parish in the Ethiopian capital. In addition, an icon of St Moses the Ethiopian was consecrated. The icon is to be presented as a gift to one of the monasteries of the Ethiopian Church dedicated to this great saint, who was born in Ethiopia and became one of the early ascetics of Christian monasticism.

Praying at the services, which were held at the Russian Centre for Science and Culture, were Hegumenia Elizabeth (Pozdnyakova), Abbess of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent of Mercy; employees of the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the Russian House together with their families; as well as representatives of the Russian-speaking Orthodox community of Addis Ababa.

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Services celebrated at the Russian parish in Addis Ababa for the Feast of the Nativity of the Mother of God

Patriarch

Department Chairman

Sermons

Patriarch

Department Chairman

Sermons