On July 21, on the feast of appearance of the Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos in Kazan, His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia performed the rite of Great consecration of the restored Cathedral of Transfiguration of Our Savior in Odessa and presided over the Divine Liturgy celebrated in the newly consecrated church.
Concelebrating to His Holiness were His Beatitude Volodymyr, metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine, Chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchy Metropolitan Varsonofy of Saransk and Mordova, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokalamsk, Metropolitan Agathangel of Odessa and Izmail, Metropolitan Lazarus of Simferopol and Crimea, Metropolitan Hilarion of Donetsk and Mariupol, Archbishop Ionafan of Tulchyn and Bratslav, Archbishop Varfolomiy of Rivne and Ostroh, Archbishop Ioann of Kherson and Tavriysk, Administrator of the UOC Archbishop Metrophanes of Bila Tserkva and Bohuslav, Deputy Abbot of the Holy Trinity St Sergius Lavra Archbishop Theognost of Sergiev-Posad, head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Moscow Patriarchy Bishop Sergy of Solnechnogorsk, Bishop Metrophanes of Horlivka and Slovyansk, Bishop Yevlohiy of Sumy and Okhtyrka, Vicar of the Kyiv Diocese Bishop Alexander of Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyy , chairman of the Synodal Department for Church-Society Relations archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, deputy chairman of the DECR archpriest Nikolai Balashov, other co-workers of the Synodal Departments in holy orders, numerous clergy of the Diocese of Odessa. Praying at the divine service was also chairman of the Synodal Information Department Vladimir Legoyda.
Present in the church also were Vice-prime-Minister of Ukraine for the issues of regional policy N.V.Tikhonov, chairman of the State Committee for Religions and Nationalities Yuri Bohutskyy, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation inUkraine M.Y.Zurabov, General Consul of the Russian Federation in Odessa A.G.Hrachev, chairman of the Odessa regional administration E.I.Hurvits, chairman of the Odessa regional council N.L.Skoryk, people deputies of Ukraine, diplomates and other officials.
In spite of hot weather, inside the cathedral there were some 5000 people, and a few thousands of worshippers stayed outside of the church.
After the Gospel readings His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia said a sermon for the faithful.
Upon completion of the Divine service His Holiness was greeted by the ruling bishop of the Diocese of Odessa His Grace Metropolitan Agathangel.
His Eminence Agathangel offered the Patriarch a memorable gift - Patriarchal crosier.
Then His Beatitude Metropolitan Volodymyr of Kyiv and All Ukraine delivered a speech.
As a souvenir of the solemnities held and as a token of gratitude for the labors undertaken His Holiness Patriarch Kirill gifted Metropolitan Agathangel of Odessa and Izmail with a set of two panagias and a pectoral cross. “May God keep You on all your life ways, may good and sincere assistants surround You to perform together with You the high ministry That God called You for”, said His Holiness the Patriarch.
As a gift to the newly consecrated Cathedral His Holiness offered an icon of the Savior, wishing: “May Christ the Savior deliver each of you from evil, may His image be kept in our hearts and make every man strong and invincible, asserting truth of God in the world”.
“And I’d like to give to everyone of you, my dear, this little Icon of the Mother of God “Kasperovskaya” with my patriarchal blessing. I cannot lay my hands on everyone, but each of you is in my heart. May the omophorion of the Heavenly Queen rest on Odessa, on Ukraine and all the Holy Rus, strengthening our pious people in their unfailing standing in the truth of God”.
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