September
15, 2009
Moscow:
An Address of the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad in the
Cathedral of Christ the Savior
From
the editors: On September 13, His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion,
celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior,
co-served by Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the
Department of External Church Relations, archpastors of the Russian
Orthodox Church, clergy of the city of Moscow, and members of the
ROCOR delegation. At the end of the divine services, in response to
the greeting of Archbishop Hilarion, the head of the Russian Church
Abroad issued an address, which follows below. That same day, His
Eminence, accompanied by the ROCOR delegation, visited the
Nikolo-Perervinsky Monastery, where he viewed the monastery’s
churches. Here, in honor of His Eminence, a very warm and joyous
welcome was organized by representatives of Kursk in Moscow.
AN
ADDRESS OF THE FIRST HIERARCH OF THE RUSSIAN CHURCH ABROAD
upon completion of the Divine Liturgy in the
Cathedral of Christ the Savior
September 13, 2009
Your
Eminence! Beloved Archpastors, Pastors, and children of the Russian
Orthodox Church!
By
God’s will, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and also following
the call of a Christian heart and the invitation of His Holiness,
Patriarch Kyrill, I find myself once more within the blessed borders
of Russia, able to venerate Her great holy places. This time, a
delegation of the Russian Church Abroad is accompanying the great
holy Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God.
Spanning
the ages, both in good times and in years of strife, millions of
people turned in faith to the Heavenly Queen, in Her most pure icon.
The Kursk Root Icon has survived two Times of Troubles – one during
the time of the First False Dmitri, when in 1605 he entered Moscow
with this icon at the head of a heathen army, attempting to appear
Orthodox for the sake of the coming attempted eradication of
Orthodoxy, and one in 1917, when the Russian Orthodox Church and
faithful were subjected to terrible persecutions.
The
modern world is suffering a great crisis of faith. We, in turn,
believe that the arrival of the holy icon of the Most Pure Mother of
God will awaken the souls of many, helping them to make a choice, to
take on themselves the most important and the holy. May it also help
them to accept Truth with all their hearts, whose call summons our
whole being to action.
Faith shows
man the correct path in life, determines one’s relationship with
oneself, helps weather the storms of life and, at the end of life’s
path, poses the question lying at the root of our earthly existence:
in what did we believe?
Blessed
is he, whose soul has known the road of faith from an early age. In
live union with God, the human soul, in the words of the Venerable
St. Macarius, becomes “all light, all vision, all rapture, all
love, all mercy, all charity, and all kindness,” and in the
rebirth of the soul, even the external appearance of man is
transformed.
May
this icon of the Most Holy Lady Theotokos, sanctified by the many
prayers offered through it and its long history, be a conduit for Her
blessings into our souls and a rock of our faith, no matter where in
the world we may find ourselves. Indeed, the Most Blessed Virgin has,
by Her presence in Her icon, established in almost every corner of the
globe expanded her appanage, in the whole Orthodox Russian world and
beyond the borders of Holy Russia.
I would
like to express my deep gratitude to His Holiness, Patriarch Kyrill,
who gave us his blessing to serve the Divine Liturgy here today, and
to Your Eminence, for the touching words with which you addressed me
and my fellow travelers. With much gratitude I address also all those
archpastors, pastors, and all the faithful of the Russian Orthodox
Church, who by gathering here under the domes of this magnificent
church and with their heartfelt and warm prayers, created a triumphant
and festive welcome, and I wish you all spiritual peace and joy in the
current visit of Our Lady Theotokos in Her Kursk Root Icon. Amen.
Photo-report
