His Holiness Patriarch Alexy greets cosmonauts on the Nativity of Christ

On 9 January 2006, after Christmas show held for children in the State Kremlin Palace, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia gave an interview to the representatives of mass media and told them that he had a communication session with the cosmonauts in orbit of the International space station.

Such sessions traditionally take place on the Nativity of Christ and on the first day of the Bright Week. The crew consisting of Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev and US astronaut Bill McArthur has been in space since October 2005. They will come back in March 2006.

‘The commander of the space ship told me he always wore a silver cross and took an icon of the Holy Virgin with him. People hope for God’s help both on earth and in space’, the Patriarch said.

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