The Metropolis of Sidirokastro expresses its profound gratitude for the monastery’s consistent support, noting that these contributions have significantly enhanced the Church’s ability to serve its local community effectively.
Before the service, a reliquary containing a particle of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker’s relics was received at the church.
Novodevichy Monastery was founded in 1524 by Grand Prince Vasily III to commemorate his successful recapture of Smolensk from Lithuania. Under its first abbess, St. Elena from Suzdal’s Holy Protection Monastery, the convent established a reputation for strict communal monastic life that would define its character for centuries to come.
Sergei Mudrov
But there is also another Switzerland—maybe not as popular, but still, the one that reveals itself to anyone who is willing to learn about it in a different light. It is more spiritual and blessed. It is the country of new Orthodox parishes. This is the Switzerland that gave the world many saints canonized by the Orthodox Church.
During the service, prayers were offered in thanksgiving for the Church’s history and its deceased leaders, as well as for protection of the country and its people from divisions, spiritual decline, wars, and natural disasters.