On the night of May 4-5, 2024, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia celebrated the Easter services - midnight vigil, procession, Paschal Matins and the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom - at the Cathedral Cathedral of Christ the Savior Christ the Savior in Moscow;
His Holiness was served by: Metropolitan Grigory of Voskresensk, Administrator of the Moscow Patriarchate, First Vicar of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia for the city of Moscow; Metropolitan Grigory of Voskresensk, First Vicar of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia for the city of Moscow. Moscow; Metropolitan Nikandr of Naro-Fominsk, Chairman Financial and Economic Department of the Moscow Patriarchate; Bishop Seraphim of Istra, Chairman Synodal Department for Youth Affairs; Bishop Alexis of Ramensk, personal secretary of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill; Protopriest Mikhail Ryazantsev, clergy of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior; clergy of Moscow;
The Easter service in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was attended by President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin. Putin and the Mayor of Moscow S. S. S. Kuznetsov. Sobyanin.
The festive service was also attended by: deputy chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation A.Yu. Kuznetsova; Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, head of the LDPR faction in the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs L.E. Slutsky; Hero of Russia pilot-cosmonaut, deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation E.O. Serova; Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. Serova; Chairman Synodal Department for Relations between the Church and Society and Mass Media V.R. Legoida; Chairman of the Moscow City Duma A.V. Shaposhnikov; Chairman of the Board of Trustees Foundation of St. Andrew the First-Called V.I. Yakunin; Apostolic Nuncio to the Russian Federation Archbishop Giovanni D'Agnello; Ordinarius of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Our Lady of Moscow Archbishop Paolo Pezzi; President of the Russian Association of Mineral Fertilizer Producers A. A. Guryev; Chairman of the Russian Association of Mineral Fertilizer Producers.A. Guriev; Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the All-Russian Public Movement "Russia Orthodox" M.M. Ivanov; representatives of state and public organizations, cultural figures;
Liturgical hymns were performed by the Patriarchal Choir of the Temple Christ the Savior (regent - I.B. Tolkachev) and the Chamber Choir of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior (regent - S.S. Sidorenko).
The Patriarchal service was broadcast live by television channels "First", "Russia 1" and "Spas". With the technical support of the Spas TV channel, the Patriarchal service was broadcast on the official website of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarchy.ru. The broadcast was commented on by Deputy Head of the Press Service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia N.I. Derzhavin. The broadcast was carried out with sign language interpretation on the Spas TV channel and the Patriarchy.ru portal.
Before the beginning of the service, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church in a live broadcast congratulated the viewers of the broadcast with the feast of Christ's Resurrection;
According to tradition, on Easter night the Holy Fire, which descended on the Holy Sepulchre on that day, was brought to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior from the Church of the Resurrection of Christ (Holy Sepulchre) in Jerusalem. The Holy Fire was brought to Moscow by a delegation headed by V.I. Yakunin, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Andrei Pervozvanny Foundation, and the Chairman of the Synodal Missionary Department, Vicar of the Synodal Missionary Department, Vicar of the href="http://www.patriarchia.ru/db/text/2837130.html">Vysoko-Petrovsky Stavropigial Monastery Bishop Evfimiy of Lukhovitsky;
Before the beginning of the procession, V.I. Yakunin handed over the Blessed Fire to the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church on the Solea of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior;
Accepting the Blessed Fire, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill said:
"By tradition, on Easter night, through the diligence of the Andrei Pervozvanny Foundation and its head, Vladimir Ivanovich Yakunin, the Holy Fire is brought from the Holy Sepulchre to the Church of Christ the Savior, lit in the Holy Sepulchre.
We receive this holy relic with a special feeling, because each of us has a special relationship with the Holy Sepulchre, with the place where the great miracle of deliverance from sin and the curse of death took place. And this fire is a visible sign that connects our Church and our people with the Holy Land and with the Holy Sepulchre.
I thank you for the relic you have brought and I ask you to light the lamps from this relic."
His Holiness lit candles from the Blessed Fire, which were handed over to the participants of the service.
To the singing of the poem "Thy Resurrection, O Christ the Savior," a procession around the Cathedral of Christ the Savior was made.
According to tradition, after the singing of the Paschal His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, bishops and clergy changed their white vestments for red ones.
At Paschal Matins, the Primate of the Russian Church read St. John Chrysostom's word on Holy Pascha.
At the Liturgy, the Paschal Gospel (John 1:1-17) was read in 11 languages. His Holiness began the reading of the Gospel, which tells of the Incarnation of the Word of God, in Greek and Latin. The Gospel was also read in Hebrew, Church Slavonic, Russian, Arabic, Ukrainian, Gagauz, German, English and Spanish.
At the Litany of Liturgy, special petitions were offered, and the Primate of the Russian Church read a prayer for Holy Russia.
After the Paschal Litany, Archpriest Mikhail Ryazantsev read out the Easter message to archpastors, shepherds, monastics and all faithful members of the Russian Orthodox Church.
After the intercessory prayer, the Primate of the Russian Church consecrated the artos.
At the end of the service, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill once again congratulated the faithful on Easter:
"I cordially congratulate all of you, all-honorable lords, dear fathers, brothers and sisters, on the greatest, most beautiful, most luminous celebration on earth! With the feast of Holy Pascha, with day of the Resurrection of the Savior, with the day when we glorify His victory over evil, over unrighteousness, over the devil.
Each of us faces hardships, injustice, offenses, and tribulations in our lives, and all of this sometimes hurts us very much. Sometimes so much so that we lose our bearings in life, our inspiration to live and work. We go through many temptations, and often they leave deep scars on our souls.
Maybe we don't have to worry so much about it all. Maybe we as believers should remember that the evil that stings us like flies or wasps cannot truly destroy us. Because only the devil could truly destroy a person, and he is defeated. The Lord dealt with the unclean power and limited its influence on man. That is why our sorrows are really insect bites, maybe very unpleasant, tiresome, irritating, but they are not able to destroy us. On one condition: if we believe that the Lord came for the sake of our salvation, if we believe in His saving power, if we are together with Him, then no human evil power is able to destroy our inner spiritual life, and in most cases, our earthly life.
Therefore, the Christian faith is a faith filled with a particular optimism, but not a beautiful-hearted, not emotional optimism, but based on the immutable fact that evil has been destroyed, evil has lost its power and its ability to truly destroy the human race. It can bite, it can scald, it can hurt, but it cannot destroy!
This is what we learn on the great saving feast of Christ's victory over the devil, over death - His great, holy, and so significant for all of human history, His resurrection from the dead.
May the Lord help us to be strengthened in faith, in the knowledge that we belong to the chosen race, which the Lord Himself chose - first in the person of the disciples, and we, continuing the work of the disciples, accepting faith in the Lord, continue their service. We whom the Lord has chosen to serve Him, so that faith in Him may preserve our lives from all evil and, spreading around us, transform this world.
May the Risen Savior keep us all safe! Today we pray especially for our Russian country, which is going through difficult, and perhaps momentous, trials. We ask the Lord to protect the sacred boundaries of our land. But at the same time we must also pray for the authorities and the army, for those who today, in times of peace for us, are losing not only their health, but also their lives in defense of the Fatherland. May God stop this Through these trials He will further strengthen our faith in the Lord, our hope in Him and the power of our prayer. And through these trials, may He further strengthen our faith in the Lord, our hope in Him and the power of our prayer.
I greet you all, my dear ones, once again and once again with the great world-saving feast of Christ's Resurrection and proclaim the solemn greeting that comes from the apostles: Christ is Risen! Amen".
Press service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
