MOSCOW: December 27, 2010
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill Receives a Delegation of Youth of the Russian Church Abroad

On December 26, 2010, following divine services at Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia met with a delegation of young people from the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. The delegation is led by the Vice President of the Synodal Youth Department, Protopriest Andrei Sommer.

Fr Andrei reported that this trip is already the fourth pilgrimage to Russia of youth of the Russian Church Abroad. This year, it was organized by the St Tikhon Humanitarian University. The Synodal Youth Committee, on its part, invited Orthodox youth from Moscow to attend the St Herman’s Pilgrimage in Jordanville, NY.

Fr Andrei talked about the pilgrimages of youth from abroad to the holy sites of their historical homeland, and gave His Holiness a photo album of these trips.

His Holiness addressed the delegation, pointing out the importance of strengthening the unity of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Fatherland and abroad in various spheres of church life, including youth ministry.

In the words of Patriarch Kirill, “We all need to mature in this unity… To preserve the greatest of values brought to us by Apostolic tradition through culture, in life, through the sufferings of the Russian Orthodox Church, this is a great calling and a great challenge which faces Russian Orthodox youth wherever they may be, in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, the US, Australia, or anywhere else,” said His Holiness Patriarch Kirill.

The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church invited the young men and women of Russian descent to preserve their Orthodox faith and love for their historic Fatherland. “You should all preserve this in your hearts, in your minds, in your emotions, in your will, and you must build your lives accordingly. This is a very important measure of self-identity, without which a person cannot exist,” concluded His Holiness Vladyka.

His Holiness then blessed each of the young pilgrims with a small icon of the Nativity of Christ.

Press Service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia