Moscow, September 9, 2024
patriarchia.ru
Ajoyous occurred this weekend, as the relics of St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk of Moscow were brought together with the relics of St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk from Belarus at Moscow’s Sretensky Monastery.
The meeting of the relics on Sunday was presided over by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, with a host of hierarchs and clerics from both the Russian and Belarusian Churches, reports Patriarchia.ru.
patriarchia.ru
The event coincided with Sretensky Monastery’s patronal feast, the Meeting of the Vladmir Icon of the Mother of God, commemorating the Mother of God’s protection of Moscow against the invasion of Tamerlane in 1395. The meeting of the relics and Divine Liturgy, including an episcopal consecration, were celebrated in the monastery’s Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ and the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.
The relics of St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk were brought from the Holy Transfiguration-St. Euphrosyne Monastery in Belarus, founded by the saint herself in 1125, and the relics of St. Euphrosyne of Moscow from Christ the Savior Cathedral. Throughout September and October, the relics of the Belarusian saint will tour Russia, and the relics of the Russian saint will tour Belarus.
patriarchia.ru
During the Liturgy, Archimandrite Makary (Yuschenko) was consecrated Bishop of Gorno-Altaysk and Chemal.
At the end of the service, Abbess Evdokia (Levshuk) of Holy Transfiguration-St. Euphrosyne Monastery, who is accompanying the relics of the Belarusian saint, donated an icon of the two St. Euphrosynes, painted by the sisters of the Polotsk Monastery, to Pat. Kirill.
Finally, all the parishioners present had the opportunity to venerate the relics of the St. Euphrosynes.
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2024 marks 920 years since the birth of St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk, the founder of female monasticism in Rus’, and 155 years since the canonization of St. Euphrosyne of Moscow, who was the wife of Prince St. Dmitry Donskoy. During her lifetime she was known as the mother of Moscow, and after her repose—its patroness.
It was St. Euphrosyne of Moscow (Grand Duchess Evdokia), who convinced Metropolitan Cyprian to bring the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God from Vladimir to Moscow for its protection from Tamerlane’s hordes in 1395. Two years later, Sretensky Monastery was founded in honor of the salvation of the city.
Read more about St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk here, and about St. Euphrosyne of Moscow here.
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