Patriarch Kirill says prayerful good-bye to the main shrine of Russians Abroad
Moscow, June 8, Interfax – Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia conducted a prayer service before the Kursk Root Icon of Our Lady of the Sign delivered to Moscow from Kursk on Tuesday.
Patriarch Kirill and Moscow priests welcomed the icon at the western gates of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The Patriarch brought the icon in and blessed the believers, and then the shrine was placed on the central lectern.
“It was the main shrine of Russians abroad that united our people. Through it, people exhausted by exile obtained spiritual strength to keep Orthodox faith, to keep their unity, to keep love to their Motherland in their hearts though then it was difficult to love the country,” Patriarch Kirill said after the prayer service.
He heartily thanked clerics of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia for granting Russian believers an opportunity to pray before the wonderworking image “for the unity of historical Russia, the Russian Church, for preserving the church communication among those who came out of the Kievan baptismal font.”
