On 1 October 2017, the 17th Sunday after Pentecost and the Sunday after the Exaltation, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia performed the rite of the great consecration of the Dormition Cathedral in Tashkent upon the completion of repair and restoration works. The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church then celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the newly consecrated cathedral.

Concelebrating with His Holiness were the head of the Central Asian Metropolitan District, Metropolitan Vikenty of Tashkent and Uzbekistan; Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations; Metropolitan Lev of Novgorod and Staraya Russa (who headed the See of Tashkent from 1987 to 1990); Metropolitan Kirill of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturye; Archbishop Feofilakt of Pyatigorsk and Cherkessk, administrator of the Patriarchal parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church in Turkmenistan; Archbishop Sergiy of Solnechnogorsk, head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Moscow Patriarchate; Bishop Pitirim of Dushanbe and Tajikistan; Bishop Vasily of Kotlas and Velsk; Bishop Daniil of Bishkek and Kyrgyzstan; Archpriest Mikhail Kotlyarov, cleric of the Dormition Cathedral in Tashkent; Archpriest Igor Balukhatin, rector of the Church of St. Vladimir in Tashkent and dean of the Tashkent district; Priest Alexander Volkov, head of the Press Service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia; and the clergy of the Diocese of Tashkent.

Present in the cathedral were the State Adviser to the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, R. T. Kamilov; the chairman of the Committee for Religious Affairs under the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan, A. A. Yusupov; the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan, S. P. Niyazkhodjaev; and the chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Relations with Society and the Media, V. R. Legoida.

The liturgical hymns were sung by the right choir of the Dormition Cathedral in Tashkent (precentor T. V. Mitronina), the left choir of the Dormition Cathedral in Tashkent (precentor E. V. Andreeva), the women’s choir of the Holy Trinity St. Nicholas Convent and of the precentors’ and catechists’ department of the Tashkent Theological Seminary (precentor A. V. Sladkova), the choir of the Tashkent Theological Seminary (precentor Monk Sevastian (Vasiliev)), and the State Academic Kuban Cossack Choir (artistic director V. G. Zakharchenko, precentor I. A. Albanov).

The Soyuz TV channel broadcast the service live from the Dormition Cathedral. Believers who could not get into the cathedral were able to follow the broadcast on large screens set up in front of the entrance to the church and outside, in front of the entrance to the cathedral square.

The sermon before Communion was delivered by Archpriest Sergiy Statsenko, rector of the Church of St. Alexander Nevsky in Tashkent and vice-rector for academic affairs of the Tashkent Theological Seminary.

At the end of the Liturgy Metropolitan Vikenty of Tashkent and Uzbekistan greeted His Holiness on behalf of the clergy and the faithful and presented him with an icon of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir.

The Primate of the Russian Church addressed the worshippers with his Primatial word.

In gratitude for his labours, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill presented Metropolitan Vikenty with a panagia and a cross made to mark the 1000th anniversary of the repose of the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir.

As a gift to the newly consecrated cathedral His Holiness presented an icon of Christ the Saviour, and altar Gospels for the churches of the Diocese of Tashkent.

His Holiness the Patriarch then presented church awards. In recognition of their assistance to the Diocese of Tashkent, the following were honoured with high awards:

— S. L. Gurzhiy, general director of LUKOIL Uzbekistan Operating Company — the Order of Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, 3rd class;

— V. A. Shteiner, general director of the foreign enterprise Termo Dom LLC — the Order of Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, 3rd class;

— V. M. Dvorin, deputy general director of Uzelektroapparat-Elektroshchit LLC — the Order of Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, 3rd class;

— T. A. Sabirova — the Order of Venerable Euphrosyne of Moscow, 3rd class;

— V. V. Maslakov, director of the Research Institute of Food Security and Ecology of the Ural State Agrarian University and deputy chairman of the Legislative Assembly of Sverdlovsk Region — the medal of the Order of Glory and Honour, 1st class;

— D. E. Pavlenko, head of the representative office of the Siberian Transport Technologies group of companies in Uzbekistan — the medal of Venerable Seraphim of Sarov;

— L. V. Gorlovetskaya, head of the social department of the Diocese of Tashkent — a Patriarchal certificate of honour.