| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy Communiqué adopted at the results of the meeting between His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and His Holiness Patriarch and Catholicos Abune Mathias I of Ethiopia His Holiness Abune Mathias I, Patriarch and Catholicos of Ethiopia, visited the Russian Orthodox Church on 15-20 May 2018. During his visit, the Primate of the Ethiopian Church and the accompanying delegation were guests of the churches, monasteries and academic institutions of the Russian Orthodox Church and became acquainted with its experience in social ministry and in manufacturing ecclesiastical goods. On 17 May 2018, the feast of the Ascension of the Lord, a meeting between His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and His Holiness Abune Mathias I, Patriarch and Catholicos of Ethiopia, took place at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. Participating in the meeting on behalf of the Russian Orthodox Church were also Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR); Archimandrite Philaret (Bulekov), DECR vice-chairman; Hieromonk Stephan (Igumnov), DECR secretary for inter-Christian relations; Hieromonk Ioann (Kopeykin), pro-rector of the Ss. Cyril and Methodius Theological Institute for Post-Graduate Studies; Mr. Vakhtang Kipshidze, vice-chairman of the Synodal Department for Church’s Relations with Society and Mass Media; and on behalf of the Ethiopian Church – His Grace Abune Enthons, Archbishop of West Harerge Diocese; His Grace Abune Philipos, Bishop of South Omo Diocese; His Grace Abune Aregawi, Bishop of South Gonder Diocese; Melake Genet Abba Kidane Mariam, P. A. to His Holiness Abune Mathias I; Melake Selam Abba Kiross Weldeab, Head of Media Service, EOTC; and Musie Hailu, Head of the Service of the Patriarchal Protocol. Among the primary tasks requiring a solution His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and His Holiness Abune Mathias highlighted the continuing persecution of Christians in a number of countries in the Middle East and Africa. Christians often become hostages to the clashes and contradictions between sides in political conflicts, including those which concern the relationships between the world’s leading powers. |
| Bishop Paul and pilgrims received by Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem. Photo: oca.org His Grace, Bishop Paul led a pilgrimage to the Holy Land from May 26 through June 5, 2019, visiting the many holy sites and shrines associated with the life of our Lord. His Eminence, Archbishop Theophanes of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, accompanied Bishop Paul and those traveling with him for most of their journey. Having lived in the Holy Land for over 55 years, Archbishop Theophanes provided a wealth of information based on his vast biblical knowledge and experience. In addition to visiting and praying at multiple sites associated with the life of our Lord and the Church in the Holy Land, Bishop Paul and the pilgrims were warmly received at an audience with His Beatitude, Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem, where they they visited the Patriarch’s chapel and beautiful gardens. His Beatitude and Bishop Paul, who greeted the Patriarch on behalf of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon, exchanged gifts, and each pilgrim was given a commemorative coin and icon as mementos of their visit. Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem with Bishop Paul. “I am most grateful to His Beatitude, Patriarch Theophilus, for blessing our visits to these sites and for giving us Archbishop Theophanes as a guide,” said Bishop Paul. “His Eminence opened many doorways for us. Because of him, we as a group, were able to venerate such sites as the Nativity of our Lord and the Holy Sepulcher without excessive waits. At all of these sites, I read the Gospel relative to the sites we were visiting. Our entire group was grateful for the assistance of Archbishop Theophanes to make our pilgrimage a prayerful one.” While in the Holy Land, Bishop Paul celebrated the Sunday Divine Liturgy at the Russian Orthodox Monastery and Chapel of the Ascension [Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia]. Code for blog Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. |
| On Tuesday, June 15, 2021, more than forty clergy from across the United States and Canada gathered together on Zoom for the fifth Clergy Peer Learning Synaxis. The Synaxis is organized by the Office of Pastoral Life , and hosted by His Grace Bishop Alexis . Promoting clergy health and well-being is a dynamic goal for the Office of Pastoral Life. Recently, the Metropolitan Council has approved additional funding to sponsor and expand the Synaxis program. This includes using trained clergymen to serve as facilitators for small group breakout rooms. His Eminence Archbishop Paul was the invited speaker to open the Synaxis. His Grace Bishop Alexis, the chair of the Office of Pastoral Life, introduced Archbishop Paul, who opened the meeting with the troparion of Ascension. Archbishop Paul spoke about his spiritual journey from a teenage acolyte at his local Greek parish, through seminary, the priesthood, and his consecration as a bishop. Archbishop Paul spoke joyfully about those who encouraged him along his spiritual journey. After finishing Sunday School, he remained active in his local parish. Although it took three times for him to agree to serve in the altar, he eventually was awarded “Acolyte of the Year.” During those years as an altar server, he and his friends would discuss all sorts of things over souvlaki; those friendships are still important to him today. His Eminence spoke of knowing that God’s will was in charge of his spiritual journey. No matter how many times he resisted going to seminary, being ordained a priest, or being concreted a bishop, opportunities did not go away. Those he trusted in the Church, his parish priest, professors, and his own bishop, who always encouraged him to obey God in all things. After the archbishop’s address, the attending priests and deacons entered breakout rooms. Every small group brought together priests or deacons with a variety of backgrounds and length of ordination, and was led by a trained facilitator. Small groups were given an hour and a half to discuss the bishop’s talk, their spiritual journeys, as well as their own health as priests. |
| Patriarch Kirill to Hold Liturgy in Moscow on Ascension admin 13 June 2013 June 13, 2013 Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia will hold a liturgy in downtown Moscow on Thursday, when the Russian Orthodox Church he leads celebrates Ascension, the patriarch’s press service reported. The church where the patriarch will hold the divine service is called the Greater Church of the Ascension near the Nikitskiye Gates and has a special historical significance: great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin married Natalya Goncharova in it in 1831. The Ascension of Jesus Christ to heaven is one of the main feasts in the Christian liturgical year, marked forty days after Easter, on Thursday in the sixth week following Easter Sunday. Forty days after his Resurrection, Christ told the Apostles: “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” “And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight,” says the New Testament’s Book of Acts (1:8-9). This year Russia, where Orthodox Christians constitute a majority, celebrated Easter, Christianity’s most important feast, on May 5. The Resurrection of the Savior, commemorated on Easter, symbolizes the victory over sin and death and the birth of a new world redeemed by his Passion. It is from Easter until Ascension that believers greet each other with “Christ is risen!” and the reply “He is risen indeed!” followed by three kisses. The ascension is regarded as the formal completion of Christ’s mission in this world, and glorious return to the Father who sent him. Source: RIA Novosti Tweet Donate Share Code for blog Patriarch Kirill to Hold Liturgy in Moscow on Ascension admin June 13, 2013 Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia will hold a liturgy in downtown Moscow on Thursday, when the Russian Orthodox Church he leads celebrates Ascension, the patriarch’s press service reported. The church where the patriarch will hold the divine service is called the Greater ... |
| Ulyanovsk completes construction of Holy Ascension Cathedral Source: Pravda.ru The Church is not a reservation, and Orthodoxy is the core belief of our people, despite the fact that, of course, in Russia there are other traditional religions, but the Russian people, on the whole, are an Orthodox nation. Natalya Mihailova 22 May 2014 The construction of Holy Ascension Cathedral in Ulyanovsk is about to be finished. Ulyanovsk Governor Sergei Morozov, even before he headed the region, was one of the initiators of the revival of the cathedral and supervised its construction. “Since we are talking about the main temple, the participation of the authorities in this construction seems to be something deeply natural and correct, – Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for Cooperation of Church and Society, told Pravda.Ru. – One should bear in mind the fact that the religious sphere of public life is no less, and perhaps even more important than, for example, sport or cultural sphere. If the state often helps non-governmental sports and cultural institutions, the logic here should be the same.” Holy Ascension Cathedral, designed on the model of the ancient Temple of Ascension in Simbirsk, is almost ready. The construction continued for 17 years. The funds, as usual, were not enough. Various organizations, businessmen, officials and common people were supporting the construction. Yet, in the beginning of the new millennium, the work was stopped for years. People began to doubt that the temple will ever be finished. However, the arrival of Sergei Morozov for the position of the governor became a turning point in the life of the cathedral. “Of course, this proves the involvement of the current governor to the cultural values and beliefs that define Russia’s face in history, – expert of the Synodal Department of the Moscow Patriarchate for Youth, hieromonch Dimitry (Pershin) told Pravda.Ru. – The church is separated from the state, but not from people or culture.” |
| Belgrade celebrates patron saint day admin 14 June 2013 June 14, 2013 BELGRADE — The Serbian capital celebrated the Ascension of Jesus with a liturgy at the Church of the Ascension and a procession in the city streets on Thursday. Belgrade Mayor Dragan ilas and City Assembly Speaker Aleksandar Anti attended the celebrations. The procession was led by Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Irinej. Belgrade marks the Ascension of Jesus every year in memory of 1403 when Despot Stefan Lazarevi declared the city the Serbian capital. The Ascension of Jesus is also tied to another key event in Serbian history – the adoption of the most important legal document of the Serbian medieval empire, Dušan’s Code, in 1349. The current way of marking the day was first established in 1862, and brought back in 1993 after a long break following World War Two. The City Hall is hosting a reception on Thursday evening. Source: B92 Tweet Donate Share Code for blog Belgrade celebrates patron saint day admin June 14, 2013 BELGRADE -- The Serbian capital celebrated the Ascension of Jesus with a liturgy at the Church of the Ascension and a procession in the city streets on Thursday. Belgrade Mayor Dragan ilas and City Assembly Speaker Aleksandar Anti attended the celebrations. The procession ... Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable. For example, 5 euros a month is it a lot or little? A cup of coffee? It is not that much for a family budget, but it is a significant amount for Pravmir. |
| Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky: General View of the Ascension Orsha Convent in the Tver Province. Summer 1910. Photo restored by Elena Filippova. I believe that all who have ever visited Russian monasteries and convents have heard this story many times: how a monastic community flourished before the Revolution and then was closed by the Bolsheviks; how the monks or nuns were exiled; how the long-awaited restoration began in the 1990s; the abomination of desolation on the site of what once was “the Garden of Eden”; the first services in an unheated church building where in winter people saw “steam” coming out of their mouths (and that time is considered the happiest!); how once the community had no money to pay the builder but after praying before the monastery’s (or the convent’s) main shrine someone donated them the sum of money that they needed… All these stories repeat themselves only with slight variations, becoming history with a capital H before our very eyes; while we, pilgrims, are becoming the narrators of these stories. Under the protection of St. Sabbatius The Ascension Orsha Convent is one of the oldest monastic communities in the Tver region. It was founded as a monastery for men at the turn of the thirteenth century. It was famous for the strict ascetic life of its monks. Among its founders was St. Sabbatius (Savvaty) of Orsha. Abbess Eupraxia (Inber), Mother-Superior of the Ascension Orsha Convent, speaks about him: St. Sabbatius Church at the Ascension Orsha Convent. Photo by Elena Filippova. —St. Sabbatius was a contemporary or probably a disciple of St. Sergius of Radonezh . Seeking the solitary life, the saint made himself a dug-out hermitage six versts [a Russian measure of length, about 1.1 kilometers or 0.66 mile] away from the monastery and lived there. Now the village of Savvatyevo is located there. He used to visit the brethren, give them spiritual guidance and then return to the forest. This site was not desecrated in the period of persecutions. Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsa and Kolomna erected a cross there and prayer service are regularly performed. Our convent has a small wooden Church of St. Sabbatius, so we are protected by his prayers to this day. |
| Consecration of Church of Resurrection of Christ and New Martyrs and Confessors of Russian Church in Sretensky Monastery to be celebrated by Pat. Kirill on feast of Ascension Moscow, May 23, 2017 Photo: A Goryainov/Pravoslavie.ru On May 25, the feast of the Ascension of the Lord, the great consecration of the new Church of the Resurrection of Christ and the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church in Moscow’s ancient Sretensky Monastery will be celebrated by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill. The All-Night Vigil will be celebrated in the new church the night before, beginning at 5:00 PM. The meeting of the patriarch and the rite of consecration will take place at 9:00 AM on Thursday morning, followed by the Divine Liturgy for the great feast of the Ascension at 10:00. By tradition, the first to enter the new church will be those who took part in its creation: builders, architects, engineers, iconographers, stone masons, metalworkers, and other laborers who worked on the erection of the new cathedral for more than three years. All will be given the opportunity to explore the new cathedral following the service. In an open letter to parishioners of Sretensky Monastery in 2013, abbot Bishop (then Archimandrite) Tikhon (Shevkunov) wrote of the construction project: The need for a new and spacious church in our monastery is long overdue. No one knows as well as you that frequently the multitude of parishioners does not fit within the one surviving Cathedral of the Meeting [Sretenie] of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God and is forced to listen to a broadcast of the service while standing outside. Having asked the blessing of His Holiness, Patriarch Kirill, for the design and construction of the church, the Brotherhood of the Sretensky Monastery asked that it be called the Cathedral of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia on the Blood, on Lubyanka, timing its consecration for February 2017. In terms of goals and objectives, the following requirements for the future project were given particular emphasis: |
| Delegation of the Russian Church Abroad Joins the Reopening Celebrations of Ascension of the Lord Cathedral Source: ROCOR Photo: ROCOR On October 8, 2019, the feast day of St Sergius of Radonezh, “Abbot of the Russian Land,” was celebrated. With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the canonization of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Kazakhstan and the establishment of the Diocese of Almaty and Astana are being celebrated with the visit of the Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God “of the Sign” to the southern capital. Coinciding with these celebrations was the completion of the capital renovation of the spiritual, historical and cultural jewel of Kazakhstan, the Ascension of the Lord Cathedral in Almaty. This masterpiece of wooden architecture is once again open to its parishioners and pilgrims. His Eminence Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan led the minor consecration of the renovated temple and officiated at Divine Liturgy, before which a procession of the cross with the Kursk-Root Icon took place. Joining Vladyka Alexander were hierarchs and clergymen of the Orthodox Churches of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Poland, as well as His Grace Bishop Nicholas of Manhattan of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. Over four thousand believers came to venerate the icon of the Mother of God. The archpastors lifted prayers for the unity of Holy Orthodox Christianity, the preservation of the Church from division and schism, and for peace in the internecine strife in Ukraine. After the singing of Many Years, Metroplitan Alexander thanked the first President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbaev, who personally sanctioned the renovation of the grand cathedral, and all the officials, clergymen and parishioners who contributed to the great undertaking. The event was widely broadcast and reported on in the mass media. Code for blog Since you are here… …we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong. |
| Putin Re-Building Destroyed Kremlin Church and Monasteries Moscow, August 1, 2014 The Chudov Monastery Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for two monasteries and a church that were demolished during Soviet times to be rebuilt in the Kremlin, reports Charisma News. Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for the Chudov (“of the Miracle”) and Voznesensky (Ascension) monasteries and a church that were demolished during Soviet times to be rebuilt in the Kremlin, the ancient fortified center of Moscow. The Chudov Monastery, long a center of book translation and learning, was built in 1358 and dedicated to the miracle (hence the name) of the Archangel Michael at Chonae. The Ascension Convent was founded in 1389 by Prince Dimitri Donskoy’s widow, Eudoxia. The Ascension Convent At a meeting on Thursday with Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and top administrators of the Kremlin site, Putin said his plan would involve tearing down a building used for administrative purposes to restore the site's " historic appearance. " The monasteries and the church were torn down in 1929-30, a time of religious persecution under the rule of Communist dictator Josef Stalin, to make space for an administrative building. Putin’s re-building plan would reverse this damage. Putin gave no indication of the cost of construction. The Moscow Kremlin is much more than the home of the president's office and his administration—it is the ancient historic and spiritual center of the city. In it is the famous Assumption (Uspensky) Cathedral where all the Tsars from Ivan IV to Nicholas II were crowned, as well as other ancient spiritual and cultural landmarks. It is often known as “the heart of Russia.” " Here is the idea ... to restore the historic appearance of the place with two monasteries and a church, but giving them, considering today's realities, an exclusively cultural character, " the Kremlin's website quoted Putin as saying. UNESCO World Heritage Site Putin said the plan hinged on winning the support of the Russian public and UNESCO, the United Nations' cultural agency. The Kremlin, built between the 14th and 17th centuries, is a listed UNESCO World Heritage Site. |
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