« On the feast of the Entry of the Most Holy Mother of God into the Temple, Bishops of the Western European Exarchate celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Paris »

December 4, 2019 is the great feast of the Entry of the Most Holy Mother of God into the Temple.

On that day, Bishops of the Western European Exarchate: Patriarchal Exarch, Metropolitan Anthony of Korsun and Western Europe, Archbishop Simon of Brussels and Belgium, Archbishop Elisey of The Hague and Netherlands, Archbishop Nestor of Madrid and Lisbon, Bishop Matthew of Sourozh, temporary  Administrator of the Patriarchal parishes in the United States and Canada, and clergy of the Korsun diocese celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Trinity Cathedral on the Branly embankment in Paris.

The bishop's choir of the Trinity Cathedral under the direction of M. Politova sung during the Liturgy, which was celebrated in Church Slavonic and French.

Petitions for the unity of the Orthodox Church and for the preservation of the Church from divisions and schisms were offered at the Augmented litany followed by Metropolitan Anthony of Korsun and West Europe  offering a prayer for the peace and ending internal conflict in Ukraine.

A sermon, following the after communion verse, was delivered by priest Georgy Sheshko, cleric of the Cathedral.

At the end of the Liturgy, the glorification was sung to the feast of the Entry of the Most Holy Mother of God into the Temple, after which the Patriarchal Exarch addressed the participants in the divine service with a welcoming speech.  Metropolitan Anthony congratulated those gathered in the Cathedral with the feast and with the third anniversary of the great consecration of the Trinity Cathedral in Paris by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, and also thanked the Bishops and the diocesan clergy, who arrived from their places of ministry, for the joy of joint prayer.

Then the Archpastors proceeded to the building of the diocesan administration, where the first ever meeting of the Synod of the Patriarchal Exarchate of Western Europe took place.

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