On Demetrius Memorial Saturday, 7 November 2020, Metropolitan Vikenty of Tashkent and Uzbekistan, head of the Central Asian Metropolitan District, celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Dormition Cathedral in Tashkent. On the eve the Parastas was served there.
Concelebrating with His Eminence were Hieromonk Mikhail (Stolyarov), Deacon Mikhail Mezhovikov and Hierodeacon Panteleimon (Doryshev).
At the end of the Liturgy a panikhida (memorial service) was served for all the leaders and soldiers slain on the field of battle and for all Orthodox Christians departed this life throughout the ages. Then Metropolitan Vikenty addressed the faithful with his customary archpastoral word:
"Today we remember our ancestors, and especially the leaders and soldiers slain on the field of battle and all our fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters who have departed throughout the ages. They laboured here on earth and accomplished their struggle, and by this struggle they hoped to receive from God the eternal blessed life which the Lord Jesus Christ granted us at a great price: the price of His Blood and His sufferings on the Cross. We hope that many of our ancestors have attained the Kingdom of God and today rejoice at our prayer for their repose, and pray at the throne of God that the Lord may send His mercy and blessing upon us, so that we too may live here on earth for the sake of eternal life, so that by our labours and struggles we may be counted worthy of the eternal blessed mansions in the Kingdom of Heaven.
But there are also those who did not labour enough on earth for the Kingdom of Heaven to be counted worthy of eternal blessings, and for them our Church has a special power. The Church is the Body of Christ. And the Head of our Church, Christ the Saviour, said that He desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. If any person did not heed these words of the Saviour during his life on earth, the Holy Church has received from Christ the Saviour the power to pray for these departed who were not counted worthy of eternal blessed life, but suffer in hell and need our help and support.
That is why the Holy Church established the Memorial Saturdays, although we commemorate our departed at the Liturgy every day. It is precisely on the Memorial Saturdays that we especially commemorate our departed fathers and mothers and all who have died throughout the ages, that the Lord may forgive them, have mercy on them, grant them relief from the terrible torments of hell, deliver them from the sufferings of bondage, and grant them the Kingdom of God."
