Ryazan, Ryazan Province, Russia, October 13, 2023
Photo: stena.ee
The Ryazan Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church celebrated a major milestone this week.
On Monday, October 9, the diocese celebrated its 825th anniversary at the St. John the Theologian Monastery, which was also celebrating its patronal feast, the Ryazan Diocese reports.
The Divine Liturgy for the feast was led by His Eminence Metropolitan Mark of Ryazan together with His Grace Bishop Pitirim of Skopin and Bishop Vasily of Kasimov, as well as clergy of the metropolis.
Ryazan was initially under the authority of the Bishop of Chernigov, but in 1198, an independent Ryazan Diocese was established.
The service was broadcast on diocesan social media:
As the diocese writes, the most important thing in its more than eight centuries of existence is “those holy people who decorated it with their exploits, and now remain intercessors for the land and an example for the next generations of believers.”
In his word after the Liturgy, Met. Mark said:
Today we remember many, many workers of our Ryazan Diocese, which was much more extensive and larger at that time. Today we remember the holy hierarchs, martyrs, confessors, monastic saints—all those people who make up the glory of Ryazan, its spiritual wealth.
We remember all the achievements and the historical path of the Ryazan Diocese on our land. What does the establishment of the diocese mean? That Church life in the Ryazan land was actively developing. Church communities were established, churches were built, monasteries arose… The establishment of the diocese is a result of the spiritual processes that took place many years ago on our Ryazan land. One of the Church teachers noted: Where the bishop is, so is the Church, because the bishop is the image of Christ.
It is symbolic, dear brothers and sisters, that we celebrate this holiday here, in the Monastery of John the Theologian, and that it falls on the day of remembrance of the Apostle of Love.
The establishment of a diocese, the formation of church communities are all important processes, but the most important thing we have in the Church is the revelation of God’s love for people. The Lord, as the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian says, first loved us all, and this Divine love is revealed in the process of living in the Church.
It is joyful that the Ryazan Diocese has been in existence for nine centuries already. Throughout this time, its boundaries have changed. Now it’s a metropolis including three dioceses. But the most important thing is that during the life of the diocese, people are united to God and eternal life. The Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian, concluding his Gospel, writes, addressing the readers: “All this is written so that you believe, and believing, have life in the name of Jesus Christ.” And this is the main thing that dioceses and all of us exist for: so that the life that the Apostle Evangelist John the Theologian speaks about will exist on earth, and so that we all become partakers of this Divine life.
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