On October 13, 2015,\nwithin the Primacy visit to the Don Metropolis, Patriarch Kirill of\nMoscow and All Russia attended St. Don Starocherkassk Monastery and\nled the evening divine service on the eve of the feast of the\nIntercession of the Most Holy Theotokos at the Army Cathedral of\nChrist’s Resurrection. This is the first service of the Patriarch\nwithin the walls of the Starocherkassk cathedral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His Holiness was served by Metropolitan Varsonofy of St. Petersburg and Ladoga, Head of the Moscow Patriarchate; Metropolitan of Rostov and Novocherkassk Mercury, Head of the Don Metropolis, Chairman of the Synodal Department of Religious Education and Catechesis; Metropolitan Kirill of Stavropol and Nevinnomyssk, Chairman of the Synodal Committee on Interaction with the Cossacks; Bishop Sergiy of Solnechnogorsk, Head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Moscow Patriarchate; Archpriest John Osiyak, secretary of the metropolitan of Rostov and Novocherkassk for the city of Rostov-on-Don; hieromonk Raphael (Mitrofanov), acting the vicar of the Holy Don Starocherkassk Efremov Monastery; clergy of the Rostov diocese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plenipotentiary\nof the President of the Russian Federation in the Central Federal\nDistrict, the chairman of the Presidential Council for Cossack\nAffairs of the Russian Federation A.D. Beglov, Presidential\nPlenipotentiary in the Southern Federal District V.V. Ustinov,\nGovernor of the Rostov Region V.Yu. Golubev, atamans of the Cossack\ntroops and representatives of the Don Cossacks took part in the\nunited prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The liturgical hymns\nwere performed by the consolidated choir of the clergy of the Rostov\ndiocese and the Don Theological Seminary (the choir director is\nProtodeacon Vladimir Zubritsky).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After reading the\nGospel, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill performed the unction of\nbelievers with oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The service was\nbroadcast live on the South Region and Soyuz TV channels. The service\nwas also broadcast on screens installed on the square in front of the\ncathedral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Principal of the Russian Church addressed the believers with the exhortation. In memory of the visit to the Army Cathedral of Christ’s Resurrection, Patriarch Kirill donated the icon of the Most Holy Theotokos Intercession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The believers were given the icons of St. equal-to-the-apostles Prince Vladimir with the Patriarch’s blessing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n