ON
ANNIVERSARY
OF HIS ENTHRONEMENT PATRIARCH URGES NOT TO STOP HELPING
RESIDENTS OF THE
DONBASS
On
the day of
the ninth anniversary of his enthronement, Patriarch of Moscow
and all-Rus
Kirill called priests to devote all their energies for helping
residents of the
Donbass, where a "fratricidal conflict" is going on, and also to
systematically develop social service in the Russian Orthodox
Church.
"The
church
must be there where a fratricidal conflict is going on and it
must help those
who have been involved in this insane confrontation where our
brothers and
sisters have perished or fallen into captivity. I rejoice in
what His
Blessedness Onufrey, the primate of the Ukrainian Church, and I,
unworthy, have
been able to do so that the exchange of prisoners has
continued," he said
on Thursday after the divine liturgy in the church of Christ the
Savior, which
more than 200 bishops from various countries celebrated.
The
primate of
the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan of Kiev Onufrey,
also served the
liturgy along with the patriarch and other bishops on the day of
the
enthronement.
"May
God
grant that such a mission of the church, the mission of
peacemaking, and also
the mission of support of the weak and sick, and of support of
the youth, our
families, and many other aspects of church life will develop not
because the
patriarch says it but because divine dispensation points to this
path,"
the primate added. "These are good works, but well organized,
bringing
maximum return from those investments that we have been able to
make," he
explained.
In
honor of the
anniversary of his enthronement, the bishops presented the
patriarch an icon of
the Royal Passion-Bearers, the last tsar Nicholas II and his
family, who were
consecrated as saints.
Instead
of
flowers, which usually are given to bishops as mementos of dates
and events,
the patriarch asked the donors to contribute money for the
purchase of
first-aid vehicles for the Holy Primate Alexis Central Clinical
Hospital.
By
tradition,
the patriarch receives congratulations twice a year: on the day
of elevation to
the patriarchal throne, 1 February, and his name day, 24 May.
At an emergency session of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church on 6 December 2008, because of the death on 5 December of Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus Alexis II, Metropolitan Kirill was elected locum tenens of the patriarchal throne. A local council of the RPTs, on 27 January 2009, elected Metropolitan Kirill the sixteenth patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus. His enthronement occurred on 1 February in the cathedral church of Christ the Savior. (tr. by PDS, posted 1 February 2018)
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