« Archbishop Elisey of Sourozh took part in celebrations on the name day of His Holiness Kyrill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia »

On Thursday, 24th May, feast of the Ascension of the Lord which coincided this year with the day of the Holy Cyril and Methodius, Equals-to-the-Apostles (the Nameday of His Holiness Patriarch Kyrill), Archbishop Elisey of Sourozh took part in the celebration of the festive Divine Liturgy presided by His Holiness Patriarch Kyrill and His Eminence Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece. The service was held in the Patriarchal Cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God in Moscow's Kremlin.

Following the Divine Liturgy His Holiness Patriarch Kyrill and His Eminence Archbishop Ieronymos processed with the wonder-working Iberian Icon of the Mother of God from the Cathedral  of the Dormition to the Saint Basil’s Cathedral on the Red Square. The procession ended with a joint prayer to the Icon of the Mother of God and the Holy Equals-to-the-Apostles Cyril and Methodius.

A festive reception was given later the same day in a Dining Chamber of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour given in honour of the Nameday of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill.

A great number of hierarchs and clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church, including Archbishop Anatoly of Kerch, Suffragan Bishop of the Diocese of Sourozh, and members of the ROCOR (Russian Orthodox Church Abroad) delegation under the leadership of Metropolitan Hilarion of New York and Eastern America, took part in festivities. The ROCOR delegation headed by its First Hierarch, Metropolitan Hilarion also took part in the celebrations marking the fifth anniversary of signing the Act of Canonical Communion in Moscow.