Moscow, September 9, 2015
“Nothing happens in the history of humanity 'by accident', especially in the life of people and their spiritual life,” His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia stressed in his speech after the Divine Liturgy at the cathedral of the Moscow Stavropegic Sretensky Monastery on September 8. On that day the Sretensky Monastery celebrated its patronal feast, the Meeting of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God.
“This miracle-working icon, which united the Byzantine Empire, Kiev, Vladimir and Moscow is a wonderful spiritual tie for us," the patriarch noted. "Its journey from the Byzantine Empire to Moscow through Kiev and Vladimir alone is indicative of the spiritual integrity of the Eastern Orthodox Church. We know that huge efforts were made to destroy this integrity and the Byzantine Empire itself, the Orthodox empire that was a true stronghold and bastion of Orthodox Christianity worldwide. I believe it was no coincidence that the wonderworking icon arrived to Russia (Rus’), showing that this spiritual space is indestructible. The very path the Mother of God in Her Vladimir Icon walked from Kiev to Moscow through Vladimir bears witness to the fact that She in this way united these principalities and lands and established the spiritual integrity of Holy Russia.”
“And today, when once again huge efforts are being made to destroy this spiritual unity, standing on the site where Muscovites reverently met this wonderworking icon, we are calling upon Her and imploring: 'Do not abandon the Russian land! Preserve us from attacks, divisions, internecine war, and weakening of the Orthodox faith! Save us from sacrileges which pervert the very nature of the Orthodox Church! Grant piece to the fraternal Orthodox nations living on the territory of the Holy Russia!' And today, when we are receiving alarming news from the fraternal Ukrainian land, we are persevering in our prayers for the Ukrainian people, as we keep praying for the Russian people, for Belarus, for the peoples of the Holy Russia – so that the Lord might keep all of us in peace, love, like-mindedness; so that the Heavenly Queen Who protected the Russian land from terrible disasters and sorrows might help us in these difficult times to keep our spiritual integrity, the unity of the Orthodox Church and faith."
“We believe that our prayers will be answered, provided they are sincere and deep. That is why I am calling upon all of you, my dear ones, to pray in your private and public prayers for preservation of our Church unity, for maintenance of the spiritual identity of all the heirs of the Holy Russia whose forebears with such reverence knelt down in prayer before the wonderworking Vladimir Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos,” Patriarch Kirill emphasized.
