His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrates at the Cathedral of the Assumption in the Moscow Kremlin
On 4 November 2012, the commemoration day of the Kazan icon of the Mother of God, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Assumption of the Moscow Kremlin. November 4 also marks the Day of National Unity and the 400th anniversary of the end of the Tome of Troubles and restoration of the Russian statehood.
Before the Liturgy, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, hierarchs and clerics stood at the entrance to the cathedral and met a replica of the miraculous Kazan icon of the Mother of God brought from St. Petersburg.
A replica of the Czestochowa icon of the Mother of God was placed at the sanctuary. Catholic hierarchs presented this icon to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill during his recent visit to Poland.
His Holiness concelebrated with the assembly of hierarchs and clergymen. Praying in the sanctuary were Metropolitan Neofit of Morfos, the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, and hegumen Paramon (Golubka), abbot of the Donskoy stavropegic monastery.
Attending the divine service also were Alexander Zhukov, first deputy chairman of the State Duma; Ms Svetlana Medvedeva, chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the special integrated programme for the Development of Spiritual and Moral Culture of the Younger Generation of Russia, and Vladimir Legoida, chairman of the Synodal Information department.
Special prayers were offered up at the Litany of Fervent Supplication and at the Litany for the Departed. A prayer service was conducted after the liturgy with special petitions for the country and Russian people.
In his homily His Holiness Patriarch Kirill spoke about relations between Christians in Russia and Poland. He said that during his visit to Poland he presented a replica of the Smolensk icon of the Mother of God as a sign of peace in Christ and received a replica of the Czestochowa icon of the Mother of God. His Holiness gave his blessing for giving this icon to the memorial church of the Resurrection of Christ erected near the Katyn memorial complex near Smolensk.