Source: DECR Communication Service
October 26, 2015
On 26 October 2015, the feast day of the Iveron Icon of the Mother God, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia visited the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow.
The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God. Concelebrating with His Holiness was an assembly of archpastors and pastors of the Russian Church.
The wonderworking Iveron Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, which was brought to Russia from Mt Athos in 1648, is kept at the convent’s Church of the Dormition. When in the Soviet times the convent was closed, the icon became a part of the collection of the State Historical Museum. On 6 May 2012, the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, returned the icon to the Russian Orthodox Church.
During the Liturgy, Archimandrite Antony (Sevryuk) was consecrated as Bishop of Bogorodsk, a vicar of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.
After the Litany of Fervent Supplication, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church offered up a prayer for peace in Ukraine.
After the Liturgy, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill said a thanksgiving before the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God and addressed the worshippers with a Primatial homily, saying in particular:
“I cordially greet all of you with a feast of particular importance for the city of Moscow and the whole Russian Orthodox Church. Today we have offered up fervent prayers before the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, the protectress of our capital.”
The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church congratulated Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna on his 80th birthday and wished him many years of life and spiritual and physical strength to celebrate the Divine Services and perform his ministry entrusted to him by the Church.
Later that day His Holiness Patriarch Kirill visited the Church of the Beheading of St John the Baptist, which is being reconstructed near the eastern wall of the Novodevichy Convent.
