Moscow, February 17, 2017
Photo: Foma.ru
On Sunday Metropolitan Isidore of Ekaterinodar and Kuban will bless a copy of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, to be sent an Orthodox parish in Syria, reports Interfax-Religion. The icon gift was painted and is being sent in memory of Russian soldiers who have fallen in Syria.
The blessing ceremony will be held in the St. Elias Church in Krasnodar. The icon will then be stored for a few days in the Krasnodar Church before being delivered to the St. Nicholas parish in Latakia, on the Syrian coast.
The icon was painted in Krasnodar, according to Orthodox canons, by Vladimir Butov, specifically for the church in Latakia. The back of the icon bears the inscription: “A gift of the Ekaterinburg Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church in memory of the Russian soldiers who gave their lives for peace and the ending of the turmoil in the ancient Syrian land.”
Fr. Nicholas Khoury of the Latakia parish has sent a letter to Met. Isidore, expressing his gratitude to the Russian Orthodox Church for its spiritual assistance to Syrian Christians.
