Orthodox participants in the WCC Assembly celebrated Divine Liturgy in the Russian parish

On 19 February 2006, Bishop Hilarion of Vienna and Austria, head of the Russian Orthodox Church delegation at the 9^th Assembly of the World Council of Churches currently being held in Porto Alegre, Brazil, celebrated Divine Liturgy in the Russian Orthodox church of St.Sergius in the city. Concelebrating were members of the Russian Orthodox Church delegation and Archpriest Leonid Kishkovsky, assistant to the chancellor of the Orthodox Church in America, who delivered a sermon on the Gospel reading on the Sunday of the Prodigal Son.

Praying at the Divine service were Metropolitans Dometian of Vidin and Kirill of Preslav (Bulgarian Orthodox Church) taking part in the Assembly as observers, and Bishop Seraphim of Ottawa and Canada (Orthodox Church in America), other delegates of the Local Orthodox Churches, Orthodox WCC staff members and the parishioners. The Divine service was celebrated in the Church Slavonic, English and Georgian languages. After the Liturgy Bishop Hilarion brought greetings to the worshippers. Metropolitan Dometian of Vidin also greeted clergymen and laymen with the feast and noted the role of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia played in the Orthodox world.

• Participants in the World Council of Churches to work out a common position on new technologies affecting personal freedom
• Orthodox participants in the WCC Assembly celebrated Divine Liturgy in the Russian parish
• Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad answers the questions of journalists accredited for the 9th General Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Portu-Alegri
• The 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches begins its work