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Anniversary of the enthronement of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill is celebrated at the Russian Metochion in Belgrade

Anniversary of the enthronement of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill is celebrated at the Russian Metochion in Belgrade
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3 February 2022 year 18:14

On February 1, 2022, the 13th anniversary of the enthronement of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia was celebrated at the Church of the Holy Trinity of the Metochion of the Russian Orthodox Church in Belgrade. With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia, officiating at the Divine Liturgy was his vicar, Bishop Stefan of Remesiana.

Assisting the archpastor were Archpriest Vitaly Tarasjev, rector of the Metochion of the Russian Orthodox Church in Belgrade; Archpriest Trajan Kojić, rector of the Church of St. Mark located in the Tašmajdan park; Archpriest Nebojša Topolić, rector of the Church of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin in Zemun; Rev. Panaiotis Karatasios, principal of the Serbian monastery of St. Gabriel the Archangel in Zemun; Rev. Miodrag Nešić; and Protodeacon Stevan Rapajić, secretary of the ecclesiastical court of the Archbishopric of Belgrade and Karlovci.

Many parishioners, including Russians, Serbs, and people of other nationalities have gathered in the church. Among those attending the divine service were Mr. Vladimir Roganović, director of the Office for cooperation with churches and religious communities of the Republic of Serbia; Mr. Andrey N. Khripunov, trade representative of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Serbia; Mr. V. Mikhailov, counselor of the Embassy of the Republic of Belarus to the Republic of Serbia; Mr. Georgy N. Engelgardt, deputy director of the Russia House in Belgrade; and Mr. Marko Nikolić, deputy director of the Office for cooperation with churches and religious communities.

After the divine service, Archpriest Vitaly Tarasjev addressed greeting words to Bishop Stefan, thanked the Serbian hierarch for common prayers on the Russian Orthodox Church’s key date and put special emphasis on the unbreakable spiritual bonds between the Moscow and Serbian Patriarchates as well as on the consistency of their stance on the matters of common concern to the entire world Orthodoxy.

The rector of the Metochion said that Russia had treasured grateful recollections of the 1920s when Serbia received several tens of thousands of Russian emigrants with open arms. He added that commemorated in the Russian Orthodox churches are Orthodox Christians in Kosovo and Metohija who are keeping faith and faithfulness to the Serbian Church under hard conditions.

Archpriest Vitaly spoke about the Russian Necropolis in Belgrade, the largest in Europe burial place of Russian soldiers who died in World War I and about the restored Chapel of the Iveron icon of the Mother of God. The chapel and the gravestones have been restored with the Russian Federation’s assistance. In 2014, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia visited the Serbian Orthodox Church and together with the Serbian Patriarch Irinej of the blessed memory consecrated the restored necropolis.

Also, Patriarch Kirill paid special attention to the mosaics decorating the walls of the Serbian people’s most treasured church – the Cathedral of St. Sava located on the Vračar plateau in Belgrade. The mosaics were created by Serbian and Russian mosaicists on donations from Russia, said Archpriest Vitaly.

He presented Bishop Stefan of Remesiana with a Vladimir icon of the Mother of God.

Bishop Stefan asked Archpriest Vitaly Tarasjev to convey heartfelt greetings from the Primate of the Serbian Orthodox Church to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia with the 13th anniversary of his ascension to the Patriarchal throne and asked all the worshippers to pray for His Holiness Patriarch Kirill’s health and many years of life and for God’s aid to him in his ministry.

Bishop Stefan conveyed the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia to the rector and parishioners of the Metochion of the Russian Orthodox Church in Belgrade and expressed his hope that the Cathedral of St. Sava will be consecrated in the near future in the presence of the Primates of the Russian and Serbian Churches and the Presidents of the two states. He emphasized with gratitude that the Russian people had never failed to render support to the Serbian people in the hardest times in history. The hierarch is convinced that no one will ever break good relations and love between the two nations.

After the divine service, a ceremony marking the 13th anniversary of the enthronement of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill was held at the premises of the Metochion.

DECR Communication Service/Patriarchia.ru

Version: Russian