Patriarch Alexy of Moscow and All Russia and Metropolitan Savva of Warsaw and All Poland celebrate at the Kremlin Cathedral of the Dormition

On January 22, 2007, the Commemoration Day of St. Philip the Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia and His Beatitude Metropolitan Savva of Warsaw and All Poland celebrated the Divine Liturgy and a thanksgiving at the relics of St. Philip at the Moscow Kremlin’s Cathedral of the Dormition.

Among their concelebrants were Metropolitans Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna, Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad and Clement of Kaluga and Borovsk, Archbishop Alexy of Orekhovo-Zuyevo, Bishops Savva of Krasnogorsk, Alexander of Dmitrov and Ambrosy of Bronnitsa.

Present at the service was V. Alexeyev, president of the Foundation of the Unity of Orthodox Nations, Mr. Butros Butros-Gali and A. Miller, winners of the Prize for Outstanding Work for the Strengthening of the Unity of Orthodox Nations, and Mr. Izzat Saad al-Sayed, Egyptian ambassador to Moscow.

After the service, Patriarch Alexy addressed himself to Metropolitan Savva with words of greetings. He spoke of St. Philip, who ‘by his life and death of a confessor anticipated the feat of standing for the truth of God which the Russian Church was to perform in the 20th century’. His Holiness also noted that ‘at a time when so much is spoken about tolerance, equal respect for any views up to the preaching of moral all-permissiveness, it takes much courage to bear witness to the unchangeable values of the holy Gospel and defend the faith that there is one truth and it is in Christ’.

‘We need unity to make our witness a success’, His Holiness said. He also stressed that ‘it is especially gratifying today to share communion in prayer with the primate of the Orthodox Christians in Poland, who successfully carry out their service in a non-Orthodox surrounding and educate the younger generation in the spirit of the faith of their fathers’.

His Holiness also reminded the congregation that this year would mark the 500th anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Philip.

Then His Holiness Alexy presented the primate of the Polish Church with an icon of the Heavenly Queen.

In his response, His Beatitude thanked Patriarch Alexy and pointed to the importance of unity of Orthodox Churches. ‘The Polish Orthodox Church is historically tied with the Russian Church, and in our hard times it is especially important that we should not lose these ties’, he said. The Metropolitan presented His Holiness Alexy with an icon of the Our Lady on behalf of the Polish Church.

Then His Holiness Patriarch Alexy thankув V. Alexeyev for having arranged the ceremony of awarding the Prize for Outstanding Work for Strengthening the Unity of Orthodox Nations, which took place on January 21 at the Church of Christ the Saviour, and wished the congregation ‘that the prayers and blessings of St. Philip give us strength in our life journey’.

DECR Communication Service