Улица на Кипру добила име по руском митрополиту Никодиму (Ротову)

2018 marks 40 years from the repose of the well-known hierarch of the 20th century Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningrad and Novgorod. Representatives of the Russian-language parish of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Limassol, Cyprus addressed the municipal authorities with an initiative to rename in honor of Met. Nikodim the street on which their church is being built, reports the site of the Russian Orthodox Church.

According to the parish priest Fr. George Vidyakin, the local authorities gladly accepted the request, and after all the necessary procedures, have made a positive decision.

“Vladyka Nikodim was the Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations for many years, therefore it is highly symbolic that the street in his name should appear by one of our foreign parishes,” Fr. George noted.

“It’s difficult to overestimate the scale of his personality, of his many years of painstaking labors for the good of the Church, and in the name of Christian unity. His reverent attitude to Divine service is an example for us. Many of the principles which he laid down in regard to the service of God, we strive to implement in our parish,” Fr. George added.

As the head of the Department for External Church Relations, Met. Nikodim represented the Russian Church at a number of international inter-confessional meetings, and was named President of the World Council of Churches in 1975. Many have also suspected Met. Nikodim of being a KGB agent, propagating the image of Soviet peace and unity through his inter-Church work. He died in 1978 while in Rome for the installation of Pope John Paul I, who prayed over him in his final moments.

This is the world’s first street named in honor of Met. Nikodim.

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The parish community of St. Nicholas in Limassol was founded in 1995. The foundation stone of the church was consecrated by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia on June 9, 2012, during a visit to the Cypriot Orthodox Church. Construction work has been underway since May 2016.

Source: mospat.ru