Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad Blesses the Newly-Elected Governor of the Smolensk Region

METROPOLITAN KIRILL OF SMOLENSK AND KALININGRAD BLESSES THE NEWLY-ELECTED GOVERNOR OF THE SMOLENSK REGION

Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad Blesses the Newly-Elected Governor of the Smolensk Region.

On 24 May 2002, the Church and public celebrations to commemorate Sts Cyril and Methodius, Teachers of the Slavs, took place in Smolensk. Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, who also celebrates his name day on May 24, headed the celebrations.

The Russian Orthodox Church a special respect for the memory of the Thessaloniki Brothers, the Enlighteners of the Slavs, as their spiritual exploit created the basis for Russian national, cultural and religious identity. It is not accidental that the Day of the Slavic Literature and Culture, celebrated only for the sixteenth time, has already won people’s love.

This year for the first time in the history of post-Soviet Russia the rite of blessing of the newly elected Head of the Regional Administration took place. Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations, gave Viktor Maslov a church blessing upon his coming public service. Official inauguration of the new governor will take place later.

The celebrations started with the festive liturgy in the Smolensk Cathedral of the Dormition. The Liturgy was celebrated by Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad. Among his concelebrants were Bishop Seraphim of Baltijsk and representatives of the diocese clergy. A great number of the faithful attended the service.

After the liturgy a prayer service was conducted, and Metropolitan Kirill addressed to the newly elected Head of the Administration. He reminded that elections inevitably separate people, though the Lord commanded them to work together for the welfare of their native land. That is why the first task of the new authorities is to consolidate all the healthy forces of society for the benefit of the Motherland and for the flourishing of the Smolensk land. Giving spiritual instructions to Viktor Maslov at the outset of his new activities, Metropolitan Kirill blessed him with an old copy of the Smolensk Mother of God called Hodigitria (Showing the way).

After the ceremony of the blessing of the newly elected governor, local people and visitors from the region marched in a procession with the cross to Sts Cyril and Methodius Street. There, at the bas-relief of the Thessalloniki brothers, the Enlighteners of the Slavs by sculptor V. Klykov, they continued church and public celebrations dedicated to the Day of the Slavic Literature and Culture.

The celebrations were attended by parishioners from churches in Smolensk and the region, workers, regional, municipal and district officials, scientists, educators and cultural figures, representatives of the Armed Forces and law-enforcement agencies, schoolchildren and university students as well as members of historical, military-patriotic associations.

Participants in their speeches noted that the works of Sts Cyril and Methodius the Borthers of Thessaloniki Equal-to-the-Apostles, who managed to combine successfully the service to the neighbors with wide cultural and educational activities, still remain an ideal for the Church and her faithful.

It was also noted that the Smolensk public considers 24 May 2002 a day of national and spiritual unity, a turning point in the life of the region, marking its entry in a period of long-expected beneficial changes.