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On 6 September 2015, 14th Sunday after Pentecost, feast of translation of the holy relics of St Peter the Metropolitan of Moscow and Wonderworker of All Russia, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia led the celebrations marking the 700th anniversary since St Peter, First Metropolitan of Moscow, began his service in Moscow, and the 700th anniversary of the foundation of the Vysokopetrovsky Stavropegic Monastery.

These anniversaries coincided with the Moscow City Day traditionally celebrated at the first weekend of September.

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church officiated at the Divine Liturgy in the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Dormition in the Moscow Kremlin, where St Peter’s holy relics are kept. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrated the service in the vestments imitating those of St Peter as depicted in his icon. During the Liturgy His Holiness also used a copy of St Peter’s crosier.

Concelebrating with Patriarch Kirill were an assembly of hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, abbots of stavropegic monasteries, and Moscow clergy.

Among those who attended the service were Mr. Alexander Beglov, Plenipotentiary Envoy of the President of the Russian Federation to the Central Federal District; Mr. Alexei Shaposhnikov, Chairman of the Moscow City Duma; Mr. Vladimir Chernikov, head of the Department for Multicultural Policy, Interregional Cooperation and Tourism of the City of Moscow; and Mr. Dmitry Mezentsev, Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

After the Litany of Fervent Supplication, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill said a prayer for peace in Ukraine.

Before the communion, Bishop Sergiy of Solnechnogorsk read out the Message by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill to Archpastors, Clergy, Monastics, and All the Faithful of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Moscow Diocese on the Occasion of the 700th Anniversary Since St Peter, Metropolitan of Kiev and All Russia, Began His Service in Moscow.

After the Liturgy a special prayer for the preservation of God’s creation was said. The office of this prayer service, approved at the session of the Holy Synod on 13 July 2015 (minutes #41), is to be celebrated annually in all churches of the Russian Orthodox Church on the first Sunday of September.

After that His Holiness Patriarch Kirill led a procession of the cross from the Cathedral of the Dormition to the Vysokopetrovsky Monastery.

Press Service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia

DECR Communication Service