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On 5 December 2016, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia currently on a visit to the Korsun diocese visited Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery where our compatriots who died far from the Motherland are buried.

Archbishop John of Chariopoulis, administrator of the Archdiocese of Russian Orthodox churches in Western Europe, met His Holiness at the cemetery Church of the Dormition.

His Holiness said: ‘Any visit to Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery is an important event for me. Remarkable representatives of our nation, the cream of our intellectuals are buried here far from home and, knowing it, one understand the great tragedy in the life of our nation: the divided country, the divided people, the loss of thousands upon thousands human lives, and exile of the best – the consequences of the tragic event the centenary of which we will remember next year. These one hundred years were very hard for our Fatherland: Civil War, repressions, wars with external enemies, economic difficulties and those linked to the political situation in the world.

‘By God’s grace Russia is reviving. Confrontation of the ‘whites’ and the ‘reds’ is the thing of the past. People have reconciled, see themselves as one nation and are building a new Russia not on an empty place, not on the ruins, but on the rich millennia-old tradition which is focused on the spiritual life of our people, on the Orthodox faith.

‘Today we pray for the life of our nation to become better both spiritually and materially, for all wounds of the 20th century to be healed, including those inflicted on the Russian emigration. One understands the necessity of spiritual unity of Russian people abroad even better at this holy place.

‘December 5 marks today the eight anniversary of the demise of my predecessor, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of the blessed memory. I visited the cemetery with him in 2007. Today we shall pray for those buried at this cemetery and for Patriarch Alexy. May the Lord rest their souls and the souls of all Orthodox Christians.’

Patriarch Kirill thanked Archbishop John for his kind words and for greeting on behalf of His Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, and wished Archbishop John God’s help in his ministry.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said a requiem prayer at the crypt of the Church of the Dormition where Metropolitan Yevlogy (Georgievsky), Metropolitan Vladimir (Tikhonitsky), Bishop Cassian (Bezobrazov) are buried.

Litiya was celebrated at the cemetery. Prayers were offered for His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, for all archpastors, pastors and all Christians who died here far from home, and also for children who died in a terrible auto crash in Khanty-Mansiisk on December 4.

After the Litiya His Holiness Patriarch Kirill visited the tombs of the outstanding Russians: Archpriest Sergy Bulgakov, church historian A.Kartashev, icon-painter and theologian L. Uspensky, and others.