Prime minister D. Medvedev and Patriarch Kirill chair a meeting of the Public Board of Guardians of St. Panteleimon’s monastery in Mount Athos
23. January 2014 - 11:22
On January 24, 2014, the Public Board of Guardians of the Athonite Monastery of St. Panteleimon held a meeting. It was chaired Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.
The leaders of the government and the Russian Orthodox Church in their capacity of co-chair of the Public Board informed the meeting about some results of the work of the Board, which was established in 2011, and presented the agenda of the meeting. Its task was to consider the work carried out by the International Foundation for the Restoration and Preservation of the Cultural and Spiritual Heritage of the monastery and to prepare events devoted to the millennium of the Russian presence on Mount Athos to be celebrated in 2016.
The feast of Theophany at the Patriarchate
23. January 2014 - 11:17
The antidoron was distributed in front of the Holy Aedicula, followed by the blessing of the faithful by means of the blessed water. At the conclusion of the blessing, the Patriarchal retinue and a crowd of pilgrims left for the Patriarchates amid ringing bells.
There, the brotherly embrace took place, as well as the kissing of the Patriarch’s hand, who wished everyone that they be enlightened by the Holy Spirit, descending in the form of a pigeon upon the baptized Lord.
Address of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia to the participants in Geneva II International Conference
23. January 2014 - 11:08
The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church sent an address to the participants in Geneva II International Conference due to take place in Montreux, Switzerland, on 22 January 2014. The text is given below.
Dear participants in the conference,
Today the world expects from you decisive actions aimed at settling by peaceful means the sanguinary conflict in Syria. It is hard to overestimate the responsibility that lies with you. The scale of the tragedy, which has been going on in Syria for three years by now, is enormous: hundreds of thousands of innocent people have fallen victims to the armed confrontation and millions of people have been internally displaced or become refugees.
The Divine Liturgy in the Monastery of Our Lady of Balamand
22. January 2014 - 10:46
His Beatitude John X celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Monastery of Our Lady of Balamand.
In this Solemnity which gathered faithful from all the Koura and North Lebanon, His Beatitude delivered a homily in which He explained the reaction of man when dealing with God.
He mentioned that giving thanks to God Almighty is the key which guarantees the continuity of His blessings.
On the Epiphany Day Metropolitan Hilarion celebrates the Liturgy in Mexico City
21. January 2014 - 9:51
On January 19, 2014, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations, celebrated the Divine Liturgy at St. George’s of the Orthodox Church of Antioch in Mexico City. Among his concelebrants were Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western Americas (ROCOR), Archbishop Justinian of Naro-Fominsk, administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA, Archbishop Alexis of Mexico (Orthodox Church in America), Bishop Ignatius of Caesarea, vicar of the Patriarchate of Antioch’s Metropolis of Mexico, and clergy of the Orthodox Churches of Antioch and Russia.
