Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Divine Liturgy at the Svensk Monastery of the Dormition in Bryansk on the Feast of All Saints Who Shone Forth in the Land of Russia
On 26 June 2011, the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost, the feast day of All Saints Who Shone Forth in the Land of Russia, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia visited the Svensk Monastery of the Dormition in Bryansk.
The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church celebrated the Divine Liturgy on the later under the canopy set on the place of the sanctuary of the Cathedral of the Dormition blown up in 1930.
Concelebrating with His Holiness was an assembly of hierarchs and priests, including an abbot of the monastery, hegumen Mitrofan (Okhalov), with the ordained brethren.
The leaders of the Bryansk region, including Governor Nikolai Denin, and deputies of the Regional and City Dumas, as well as representatives of Belarus and Ukraine attended the divine service, which was broadcast at the square in front of the monastery and on local TV.
The choir of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius Laura conducted by hieromonk Nestor (Volkov) sang at the service.
After the service, Bishop Feofilakt of Bryansk and Sevsk greeted His Holiness on behalf of the clergy and laity of the diocese and presented him with a copy of the Svensk icon of the Mother of God. The miraculous Svensk icon was the main object of the veneration in the monastery before its demolition and at present is found in the State Tretyakov Gallery.
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill addressed those gathered with his primatial homily and donated an icon of the Mother of God to the monastery, a pectoral image to Archbishop Feofilakt, and small icons of the Saviour-Not-Made-by-Hands to all who attended the worship, the Patriarch’s press service reports.