Valaam, July 11, 2019
Photo: foto.patriarchia.ru
One of the Russian Church’s most important monasteries has been further sanctified with the prayerful intercession of one of the Russian Church’s most beloved saints.
Photo: foto.patriarchia.ru
The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church recently met at Holy Transfiguration Monastery on Valaam, and as part of his visit, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrated the rite of consecration of the new Church of St. Seraphim of Sarov on Porphyry Island in the Valaam archipelago yesterday, reports Patriarchia.ru.
Photo: foto.patriarchia.ru
Porphyry Island is located nearly 3 miles from the main monastery. The first mention of the hermitage on the island is connected with the name of Schemamonk Porphyry who lived there in 1828. All the buildings of the hermitage were lost in the middle of the 20th century, after which a new complex, including the Church of St. Seraphim, was built between 2015 and 2019.
Photo: foto.patriarchia.ru
The service was also attended by the abbot of Valaam His Grace Bishop Pankraty of Troitsk, His Eminene Metropolitan Barsanuphius of St. Petersburg and Ladoga, His Eminence Metropolitan Sava of Tver and Kashin, and Hieromonk Naum, the acting head of the St. Seraphim hermitage with the brotherhood.
At the end of the service, His Holiness addressed those gathered with a word, congratulating all with the blessed event.
“Another place for prayer, and thus for the spiritual life, is established on the Valaam archipelago, which has special significance for our entire Church and for the entire Orthodox world. It is our Northern Athos,” Pat. Kirill said.
Photo: foto.patriarchia.ru
“May God grant that the prayerful life would always be at the center of the life of this holy habitation, and that every new church that we erect and consecrate would be a testimony to our commitment to this dimension of the spiritual life of an Orthodox Christian and especially of a monk… Let this small church help those who come to this island to strengthen their faith and offer their prayers to the Lord. Amen.”
Pat. Kirill also offered an icon of St. Silouan the Athonite as a gift to the brotherhood in honor of the new church.
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