On the Repose of St. Sergius of Radonezh, Metropolitan Vikenty Celebrates the Liturgy at the Moscow Theological Seminary

On 8 October 2019, the day of the repose of Venerable Sergius, Abbot of Radonezh and Wonderworker of All Russia, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Dormition Cathedral of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius.

His Holiness was assisted by His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy of Kyiv and All Ukraine; Metropolitan Vladimir of Chisinau and All Moldova; Metropolitan Savva of Tver and Kashin, Chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate; Metropolitan Irenaeus of Dnipropetrovsk and Pavlohrad; Metropolitan Varnava of Cheboksary and Chuvashia; Metropolitan Sergiy of Voronezh and Liski; Metropolitan Arseny of Lipetsk and Zadonsk; Metropolitan Sergiy of Ternopil and Kremenets; Metropolitan Innokenty of Vilnius and Lithuania; Metropolitan Ioann of Belgorod and Stary Oskol, Chairman of the Synodal Missionary Department; Metropolitan Feodosy of Tambov and Rasskazovo; Metropolitan Georgy of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas; Metropolitan Mark of Ryazan and Mikhailov; Metropolitan Aristarkh of Kemerovo and Prokopyevsk; Metropolitan Antony of Boryspil and Brovary, Chancellor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church; Metropolitan Ioasaf of Kirovohrad and Novomyrhorod; Metropolitan Kirill of Stavropol and Nevinnomyssk, Chairman of the Synodal Committee for Cooperation with the Cossacks; Metropolitan Pavel of Khanty-Mansiysk and Surgut; Metropolitan Ignaty of Vologda and Kirillov, Chairman of the Financial and Economic Department of the Moscow Patriarchate; Metropolitan Korniliy of Arkhangelsk and Kholmogory; Metropolitan Vladimir of Vladivostok and Primorye; Metropolitan Grigory of Chelyabinsk and Miass; Metropolitan Dimitry of Chita and Petrovsk-Zabaikalsky; Archbishop Serafim of Kaliningrad and Baltiysk; Archbishop Feognost of Kashira, Chairman of the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism; Archbishop Amvrosy of Vereya, abbot of the Sretensky Stauropegial Monastery; Archbishop Nafanail of Volyn and Lutsk; Archbishop Feodor of Petropavlovsk and Kamchatka; Bishop Nikolai of Nakhodka and Preobrazheniye; Bishop Andrei of Rossosh and Ostrogozhsk; Bishop Dionisy of Voskresensk, First Vicar of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia for the city of Moscow; Bishop Paisy of Shchigry and Manturovo; Bishop Sergiy of Vyazma and Gagarin; Bishop Paramon of Sergiev Posad, abbot of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius; Bishop Foma of Pavlovsky Posad, head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Moscow Patriarchate; Bishop Serafim of Istra, Chairman of the Synodal Department for Youth Affairs; Bishop Gedeon of Makariv; Bishop Savva of Zelenograd, Deputy Chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate; Bishop Stefan of Klin, Chairman of the Synodal Department for Cooperation with the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement Agencies; Bishop Alexy of Solnechnogorsk, abbot of the St. Daniel Stauropegial Monastery; Bishop Amvrosy of Svetlogorsk; Archimandrite Varfolomey (Kalugin), father confessor of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius; Protopresbyter Vladimir Divakov, Secretary of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia for the city of Moscow; Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, Deputy Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate; Archimandrite Pavel (Krivonogov), abbot of the Savvino-Storozhevsky Stauropegial Monastery; Archimandrite Feofilakt (Bezukladnikov), abbot of the New Jerusalem Stauropegial Monastery; Hegumen Pyotr (Eremeev), abbot of the Vysoko-Petrovsky Stauropegial Monastery; Hieromonk Agafon (Bolotin), dean of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius; Hieromonk Ioasaf (Tandibilang), rector of the Church of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir in Jakarta, cleric of the Patriarchal Exarchate of Southeast Asia; Priest Boris Setiawan, rector of the Church of the Apostle Thomas in Jakarta, cleric of the Indonesian Mission of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia; brethren of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius in holy orders; and a host of clergy.

Among those concelebrating with His Holiness were representatives of the Local Orthodox Churches to the Moscow Patriarchal Throne: Bishop Antonije of Moravica (Serbian Orthodox Church); Archimandrite Feoktist (Dimitrov) (Bulgarian Orthodox Church); Archimandrite Serafim (Shemyatovsky) (Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia); Archpriest Daniel Andrejuk (Orthodox Church in America).

Present at the service were I. O. Shchegolev, Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Central Federal District; L. E. Slutsky, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs; N. Yu. Chaplin, First Deputy Chairman of the Moscow Regional Duma; and M. N. Belogubova, Special Representative of the Governor of St. Petersburg in Moscow.

Among the worshippers were the Deputy Chairman of the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism, abbess of the Conception Stauropegial Convent, Hegumenia Juliania (Kaleda); abbesses of a number of convents of the Russian Orthodox Church who had come to the Lavra for the patronal feast; a group of Orthodox pilgrims from Indonesia; and many other pilgrims.

The liturgical hymns were sung by the choir of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius conducted by Archimandrite Gleb (Kozhevnikov).

The first Little Litany was intoned in French by Protodeacon Jean Drobot-Tikhonitsky, cleric of the Church of the Holy Right-Believing Prince Alexander Nevsky in Paris, the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Western European Parishes of the Russian Tradition.

During the Augmented Litany petitions were offered for the unity of the Orthodox Church and its preservation from divisions and schisms. After the Augmented Litany His Holiness Patriarch Kirill offered the prayer for peace in Ukraine.

The sermon before Communion was preached by Hegumen Hilarion (Goyuk), a monk of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius.

The Soyuz TV channel broadcast the Patriarchal service live.

At the end of the Liturgy His Holiness Patriarch Kirill addressed those present with his Primatial word.

On this day, by tradition, hierarchal services were also celebrated in the other churches of the Lavra. The Divine Liturgy in the Trinity Cathedral was led by Metropolitan Varsonofy of St. Petersburg and Ladoga; in the St. Sergius Refectory Church, by the Patriarchal Vicar of the Diocese of Moscow, Metropolitan Yuvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna; in the Church of the Holy Spirit, by the Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk; in the Academy Church of the Protection, by the Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus, Metropolitan Pavel of Minsk and Zaslavl; in the Church of Venerable John Climacus of the Moscow Theological Seminary, by the Head of the Central Asian Metropolitan District, Metropolitan Vikenty of Tashkent and Uzbekistan; and at the Chernigov Skete, by Metropolitan Serafim of Penza and Nizhny Lomov.

On the Cathedral Square of the Lavra His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrated a moleben before the venerated icon of Venerable Sergius of Radonezh. His Holiness was assisted by the assembly of hierarchs who had celebrated the Liturgy on the feast of Venerable Sergius in all the churches of the monastery.

After the moleben His Holiness Patriarch Kirill addressed the participants of the celebrations, hierarchs, clergy, monastics and laity, from the balcony of the Patriarchal chambers:

“Once again I greet all of you, my dear ones, on the feast, the memory of the holy Venerable Sergius, Abbot of Radonezh!

Look, even the sun has come out at the end. Everyone told us there would be rain, bad weather and cold, to wrap up warm… Well, perhaps it is not as warm as we would like, but it is not cold either, so the mercy of the Venerable One is with us even in these simple things, as it is on the paths of our life in general; everyone knows this. Sometimes we ask the Lord and His saints for the simplest things. It might seem, how can one turn to the Lord with all this? Yet we do! And our loving Father responds even to these prayers of ours.

May Venerable Sergius also incline his mercy towards us and intercede before the face of God for great things and small, for what troubles us as a people, as a Church, and what troubles each one of us. Through his prayers may the Lord preserve the Russian Church, our devout people, and all of you, my dear ones. Happy feast!”

Then, in the Patriarchal chambers of the Lavra, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church presented awards to hierarchs marking anniversaries this year, and to laypeople who had laboured with particular dedication for the good of the Holy Church.

Also on this day, in the Patriarchal chambers of the monastery, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill met with a group of Orthodox pilgrims from Indonesia. The group, making a pilgrimage to the holy places of the Russian Orthodox Church, is led by Hieromonk Ioasaf (Tandibilang), rector of the Church of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir in Jakarta, cleric of the Patriarchal Exarchate of Southeast Asia, and Priest Boris Setiawan, rector of the Church of the Apostle Thomas in Jakarta, cleric of the Indonesian Mission of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. His Holiness blessed each of the pilgrims.