Moscow, April 5, 2018
Photo: povar.ru Following the Divine Liturgy at Moscow’s Novospassky Monastery on Holy Saturday, His Grace Bishop Savva of Voskresensk, the abbot of the monastery, will bless Paschal kulichi gathered in a joint drive by the Moscow Patriarchate’s directorate for work with believing servicemen and the All-Russian veteran organization “Combat Brotherhood,” reports the site of the Russian Orthodox Church.
“We are glad that we can send a part of the feast, a part of the homeland to our soldiers who are fighting the global threat of international terrorism. Kulichi blessed in Moscow will be delivered to the staff of our embassy in Damascus, which has been under constant shelling all these years, defending the interests of our country in the frontline situation. Pascha is a celebration of life. Our guys in Syria have done everything that life would begin to return to the war-torn country,” stated Combat Brotherhood Vice Chairman and State Deputy Dmitry Sablin.
Sablin also visited St. Thekla’s Monastery in Maaloula, Syria in late March to make a sizable donation on behalf of Combat Brotherhood.
After the blessing service, kulichi and icons will be delivered to the Khmeimim airbase in Syria via military aircraft. The cargo will be accompanied by representatives of the Ministry of Defense, Combat Brotherhood, and the Blagozvonnits Choir, which will sing the Paschal service in the Church of the Prophet Elijah on the airbase, as well as a concert for Russian servicemen, Syrian soldiers, and priests of the Orthodox Church of Antioch.
Novospassky Monastery, together with various public organizations, has repeatedly collected and sent aid to the war-stricken people of Syria since 2013.
