A bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church visits Malaysia and Singapore
On August 8-9, 2015, Bishop Sergiy of Solnechnogorsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate administrative secretariat, visited Malaysia and Singapore, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.
On August 8, Bishop Sergiy celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the ROC church of the Archangel Michael in Kuala Lumpur. He was assisted by Hieromonk Pitirum (Dondenko), senior priest at the Moscow Patriarchate Parish of the Assumption in Singapore, Hieromonk Philip (Balingit) of the Russian Church Outside Russia, and Deacon Seraphim Choy of the church of the Archangel Michael in Kuala Lumpur.
Present at the liturgy were the Russian ambassador in Malaysia V. Yermolov and his wife, staff members of Russian representations, compatriots residing or living in Malaysia, and Orthodox believers from Romania, England, Malaysia and other countries.
The visit was timed to the installation of the iconostasis produced by masters in Russia.
On August 9, Bishop Sergiy celebrated the Liturgy at the Moscow Patriarchate Parish of the Assumption in Singapore. He was assisted by Hieromonk Pitirim (Dondenko) and Hieromonk Philip (Balingit), as well as Deacon Yevgeny Shmelev of the Singapore parish.
There were Orthodox faithful from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Philippines, England, America, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and other countries.
During the liturgy, Bishop Sergiy ordained Dimitry Semash, a citizen of Singapore and local parishioner, as deacon.
In conclusion of the service, Bishop Sergiy greeted all the present on the occasion of the commemoration day of St. Panteleimon and presented the community with an icon of the saint. He addressed special greetings to the parishioners who are citizens of Singapore as on that day they celebrated the 50th anniversary of the independence of their country.
DECR Communication Service