« On the 24th Week after the Pentecost, His Grace Bishop Matthew of Sourozh celebrated the Liturgy at the London Cathedral »

On November 11, 2018, on the 24th Week after the Pentecost, His Grace Bishop Matthew of Sourozh led the Divine Liturgy at the Dormition Cathedral in the city of London.

His Grace was assisted by Priest Dimitry Nedostupenko, Secretary of the Diocese of Sourozh, Protodeacon Vadim Santsevitch, Deacon Anthony Ivashin, Deacon Vladimir Kastravet and Deacon Victor Nikiforov.

Liturgical hymns were sung by the choir of the Cathedral under the direction of M.V. Bezmenova.

At the augmented litany, petitions were raised about the unity of the Orthodox Church and the preservation of the Church from schisms and divisions. After the augmented litany, the Most Reverend Vladyka said a prayer for peace in Ukraine.

This day marks the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. With the blessing of Vladyka Matthew, a litany for the departed for those who died during the war years, was proclaimed during the Divine Liturgy at the Cathedral. At the end of the service, His Grace together with present clergy served a memorial litya to all war victims. After that, His Grace addressed the clergy and parishioners of the temple with a words of spiritual edification.

The First World War (July 28, 1914 - November 11, 1918) is one of the largest armed conflicts in the history of mankind. The formal pretext for the war was an event in Sarajevo, where on June 28, 1914, a student Gavrilo Princip, a nineteen-year-old Bosnian Serb, made an assassination attempt, which resulted in the death of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophia Hotek.

Countries participating in the First World War were divided into two opposing camps:

- The Four Union: German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires and the Bulgarian kingdom;

- Entente: Russian Empire, French Republic and British Empire.

In total, over 70 million people were mobilized during the war years in the armies of the warring countries, including 60 million in Europe, of which between 9 and 10 million have died. Civilian casualties are estimated to be between 7 and 12 million people; about 55 million people were injured. The war served as the prologue and detonator of a number of major revolutions, including the February and October 1917 ones in Russia, and the November 1918s one in Germany. As a result of the war, four empires ceased to exist: Russian, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and German.

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