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His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia officiated at the prayer service on December 31 in the Church of Christ the Saviour, thanking the Lord for the past year and invoking God’s blessing upon the coming year 2010.

He was assisted by Archbishops Hilarion of Volokolamsk and Alexy of Orekhovo-Zuevo, Bishops Seraphim (Zaliznitsky), Savva of Krasnogorsk, Merkury of Zaraisk, Serafim of the Baltic, Alexander of Dmitrov, Ignaty of Bronnitsa, Sergiy of Krasnogorsk, Tikhon of Podolsk, Kirill of Pavlov Posad, as well as Archpriest Mikhail Ryazantzev, sacristan of the Church of Christ the Saviour and Moscow clergy.

Addressing the congregation before the thanksgiving, His Holiness said in particular, ‘A Christian should have an optimistic view of life. Christian optimism however has a profound foundation as it is rooted in our faith and trust in God Who is the Lord of history. Our optimism is based in trust in God’s good will. We do not believe rashly that the future year will be better than the previous one, but in our hopes for a better tomorrow we place reliance in prayer. We believe that the Lord will hear it and that in response to our ability to repent our sins and refrain from doing evil He will show us His mercy’.

Patriarchal press service