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On June 19, 2011, the commemoration day of all saints and St Hilarion the New, the Wonder-worker of Dalmatia, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations, celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the church of Our Lady the Joy to All the Afflicted-in-Bolshaya Ordynka, Moscow. He was assisted by a great assembly of bishops and priests.

Before the service, Metropolitan Hilarion venerated the main shrine of the church – the revered Icon of the Our Lady the Joy to All the Afflicted.

The Moscow Synodal Choir conducted by Russia’s Honoured Artist A. Puzakov sang during the liturgy. The composition devoted to St. Hilarion the New, the Wonder-worker of Dalmatia, by modern composer A. Mikita was performed for the first time.

Among the worshippers were Mr. Ferenc Nagy-Rebek, Hungary’s envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, Mr. Laszlo Sasfalvi, state secretary of Hungary’s Ministry of Public Administration and Justice, Mr. L. Sevastyanov, executive director of St. Gregory the Theologian Charity. There was a multitude of people who came to greet Metropolitan Hilarion on that day significant for him.

After the liturgy, Archbishop Kirill of Yaroslavl and Rostov read out a congratulatory message from His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.

Addressing Metropolitan Hilarion on behalf of his fellow-bishops, Archbishop Kirill said, ‘God has endowed you with many talents and with power. Today we celebrate the memory of all saints who pleased God, and on this day we ardently greet you on the occasion of the feast of your patron saint, St. Hilarion the New, whose name you were given when you took monastic vows. I would like to wish you that you may carry out your archpastoral ministry continuing the cause of many generations who stood firm in the faith of the bishops of the Russian Church and who defended Orthodoxy by their lives in their homeland. Obedience to the Church compels you to be out of the country a great deal of time, but it is often outside our motherland that there are especially acute challenges that the evil and godless world poses before holy Orthodoxy.

‘We wish you that the numerous gifts which the Lord has granted you and which you have acquired in your profound desire to serve the Throne of God and the Russian people may be strengthened’, he said.

Then ‘Many Years of Life…’ to Metropolitan Hilarion was sung by the choir together with the whole congregation.