315,000 PEOPLE VENERATE RELICS OF VENERABLE SILOUAN THE ATHONITE

Pravoslavie.ru – September 2016

On September 24 the relics of St. Silouan accompanied by representatives of the St. Basil the Great Foundation and clergy left Moscow’s Danilov Monastery – their final destination – and departed for the Russian St. Panteleimon’s Monastery on Mt. Athos where they have been kept permanently for many years, reports the St. Basil the Great Foundation’s website.

It should be noted that one more great Orthodox relic was brought together with the saint’s venerable head from Mt. Athos – the wonderworking icon of our Lord Jesus Christ before which Venerable Silouan had experienced a vision of the Savior.

In all approximately 315,000 people have venerated the relics of the holy elder Silouan the Athonite in Belarus and Russia.

In Moscow around 65,000 people have venerated the relics of the saint and the same number of small icons of the saint were distributed. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia venerated the relics twice over the time of their stay in the capital.

The last pilgrims venerated the relics early Saturday morning before the patriarchal service. The reliquary with the relics stayed at the Danilov Monastery and in the afternoon the delegation of Athonite monks departed for Greece with the holy relics.

With the departure of the Athonite monks’ delegation the main Moscow celebrations of the 1000th anniversary of the Russian monastic presence on Holy Mount Athos came to a close. Patriarch Kirill, while opening the jubilee celebrations on September 21, referred to the first bringing of relics of Venerable Silouan the Athonite to the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church on August 20 – September 24 as an historic event. The reliquary had never left the territory of Mt. Athos before.

From August 20 on the holy relics were also venerated in Minsk, Bryansk, Orel, Yelets, the Shovskoye village, Tambov, Yekaterinburg, and St. Petersburg. Moscow was the final destination in the Athonite monks’ itinerary.