Moscow, November 14, 2019
Photo: spzh.news
For the first time in its history, the Patriarch of Alexandria and his representative in Moscow were not commemorated at the Alexandrian representative church in the Kitai Gorod section of Moscow on Sunday, November 10.
“I was at the Sunday Liturgy at the Alexandrian representation church in Moscow, and I regret to inform you that they did not commemorate Pope and Patriarch Theodoros of Alexandria,” a parishioner wrote to the “Batiushka Luther” Telegram channel, reports the Union of Orthodox Journalists.
This follows in the wake of Patriarch Theodoros of Alexandria’s decision to recognize and commemorate the Ukrainian schismatics. Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, the Deputy Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations commented that this would result in Patriarch Kirill not commemorating Pat. Theodoros, though there has been no news as to whether the Russian Patriarch has made this change.
“The rector of the representation church,” named in honor of All Saints, “Metropolitan Athanasios Kikkotis of Cyrene, did not serve, but quietly stood in one of the side chapels, which is rare—Vladyka very rarely does not serve the Sunday Liturgy at the dependency,” he writes.
“Naturally, he also was not commemorated,” the message reads.
The parishioner seems to be a Boris Grigorian, who made the same comment on Facebook:
Facebook
Met. Athanasios is admired by the parishioners and is credited with improving the liturgical life of the Church, including making it one of the few churches in Moscow where Byzantine chant is regularly heard. He has served at the church as Exarch of the Patriarch of Alexandria to the Patriarch of Moscow since 1997.
