Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church officiates at the Divine service on the occasion of bringing the relics of St. George the Victorious from Mount Athos to Moscow

On 22 August 2005, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia officiated at the All-Night Vigil service at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and led the meeting of the shrines with the holy relics of the Great Martyr St. George the Victorious brought to Moscow from the Kutlumush monastery on the Holy Mount Athos.

Concelebrating with His Holiness were Metropolitans Yuvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna and Clement of Kaluga and Borovsk, Archbishops Arseny of Istra and Alexy of Orekhovo-Zuevo, Bishop Savva of Krasnogorsk, Alexander of Dmitrov, Veniamin of Lubertsy and Mark of Yegorievsk.

Upon arrival in Moscow the relics of St.George the Victorious were brought to the wooden church dedicated to the ‘Derzhavnaya’ Icon of the Mother of God near the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.

Metropolitan Yuvenaly accompanied by the monks from Mount Athos, Moscow clergymen and the Kremlin guards of honour carried the shrines with the holy relics to the doors of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, where they were met by His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia and the concelebrating hierarchs.

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church anointed the worshippers and distributed small icons of St.George with an inscription ‘In commemoration of bringing the holy relics of the great Martyr St.George the Victorious from the Holy Mount Athos to the Moscow diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church’,

It is remarkable that the particles of the relics of the holy protector of the Russian warriors are brought to Russia in the year of the 60^th anniversary of the Great Victory.

The shrines with the relics of St.George will stay in Russia from August 22 to September 28. For three days they will be open for veneration in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour and then transferred to the Novodevichy Convent.

Present at the ceremony also was head of administration of the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region A.G.Gladyshev, who initiated the bringing of the holy relics from the Holy Mount Athos.

A church of St.George the Victorious is being built in Odintsovo, and it will be the first town near Moscow to receive the relics of the protector of the Christ-loving warriors.

Inhabitants of Podolsk, Kolomna, Yegorievsk, Shchelkovo, Mytishchi, Volokolamsk and Ruza will also have an opportunity to venerate the relics. On September 28 the shrines with the relics of St.George will be brought to St.Petersburg.

Message of Metropolitan Yuvenaly on the bringing of the relics of St.George the Victorious with the dates of their stay in the towns near Moscow is published on the official site of the Moscow diocese www.meparh.ru

See also:

• His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia