On 3 June 2015 the Orthodox faithful of the small Surkhandarya town of Denau welcomed their archpastor. On this day, when the Church honors the Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos and the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Emperor Constantine and Empress Helen, the head of the Central Asian Metropolitan District, the Metropolitan of Tashkent and Uzbekistan, celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the House of Prayer of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos in Denau.

Concelebrating with His Eminence were: Priest Leonid Khimonidi, rector of the church; the dean of the Samarkand Deanery, Archpriest Roman Zagrebelny; Priest Igor Babakov; Priest Dionisy Yakimenko; Priest Vladimir Skornyakov; and Priest Timofey Sirodzhev.

After Holy Communion, the dismissal and the magnification of the Most Holy Theotokos and of the Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine and Helen, His Eminence congratulated everyone on the feasts being celebrated and addressed the faithful with his archpastoral word.

"These two feasts are deeply venerated in our Russian Orthodox Church. The Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos is especially revered in our Church, for through it the Mother of God has shown special grace and special help to all who flee to her. She delivers from troubles, misfortunes, illnesses, sorrows and adversities in this life. She helps not only individual people but whole nations. And thanks to this holy icon our people have several times been delivered from great suffering and death."

In his sermon he dwelt in particular on the labor of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine and Helen, who put an end to the shedding of Christian blood: "These saints stopped the persecution of Christians. They established Christianity as the state religion. Saints Constantine and Helen did everything so that the Christian faith would flourish in the Roman Empire: churches and schools were built, and people freely confessed their Orthodox faith.

We live at a time when we are not persecuted; we are given every opportunity to confess our faith and to come to church. And therefore we must make use of this blessing of God, not be lazy about coming to church and praying in this temple, going to confession, receiving Communion, having molebens served, and taking part in the other Sacraments of the Church that are so necessary for our salvation."