His Holiness Patriarch Alexy of Moscow and All Russia celebrates Divine Liturgy on the commemoration day of St. Hermogen in the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Moscow Kremlin

On 2 March 2006, the commemoration day of St.Hermogen, Patriarch of and All Russia and Wonderworker, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia together with Archbishop Arseny of Istra celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Moscow Kremlin.

After the Divine Liturgy His Holiness Patriarch Alexy celebrated a prayer service at the shrine with the relics of St.Hermogen.

After the prayer service the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church addressed the worshippers and greeted them with the feast.

His Holiness said: ‘Today we commemorate a great first hierarch of the Russian land, the holy martyr Hermogen, who lived in the Times of Trouble – one of the most hard periods in the history of our Fatherland.

We head the words from the Epistle read today at the Divine Liturgy: ‘Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God; consider the outcome of their life, and imitate their faith’ (Heb 13:7). We should imitate the life of those zealots of the faith whom we commemorate. St.Hermogen is the one whose faith we should imitate as well as his love of the Fatherland and the Church of Christ’.

His Holiness the Patriarch reminded the worshippers of the spiritual exploit of the holy martyr Hermogen who was killed for the Orthodox faith by the enemies and called them ‘to imitate his faith and his faithfulness to the Church of Christ and the earthly Fatherland’.

In conclusion of his address His Holiness thanked the choir ‘for the imbued with prayers singing on the commemoration day of St.Hermogen’, greeted all the worshippers with the feast and the communicants with receiving the Holy Mysteries of Christ.