Sunday of Orthodoxy in Vienna
Serbian Orthodox Church – 28/3/13
In the Diocese of Austria-Switzerland on Sunday of Orthodoxy the remembrance of the victory of the Holy Church over iconoclasm was celebrated. His Grace Bishop Dr. Irinej of Backa, the Administrator of the Diocese of Austria and Switzerland, celebrated the Divine Liturgy in Vienna’s church of the Resurrection of Christ in the presence of concelebrating priests and pious people.
Pan-Orthodox Vespers
On the first Sunday of Great Lent, when the Church celebrates Sunday of Orthodoxy, reminding us of the first victory over iconoclasm and the restoration of icons for use in services in Constantinople in 843, the Orthodox believers who live in the capital of Austria, attend together the Pan-Orthodox Vespers celebrated by clergy of the Ecumenical, Antiochian, Russian, Serbian, Georgian, Bulgarian, Romanian and Czech Orthodox Churches. According to tradition, the feast is celebrated each year in another church. This year the Pan-Orthodox Vespers were celebrated in the church of the Resurrection of Christ of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
The celebrants were Metropolitan Arsenios of Vienna and Austria (Ecumenical Patriarchate), Archbishop Mark of Yegor (Russian Orthodox Church), Bishop Irinej of Backa (Serbian Orthodox Church), Vicar Bishop Antoniy for Western and Middle Europe (Bulgarian Orthodox Church), and Metropolitan Seraphim (Romanian Orthodox Church).
A large number of Orthodox Serbs lives in Vienna, hence they were always in majority at the Pan-Orthodox Vespers.
