MOSCOW, may 3 – RIA Novosti. The Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Kirill thanked the doctors and volunteers for work in conditions of coronavirus and sponsors for the support of the priests, and called on the faithful to refrain from hatred and the search for enemies.
“All the volunteers … my special thanks, because you can directly be attributed to the words of Christ the Savior: “for I was Hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came unto Me” (Matt. 25:35-36),” – said Patriarch Kirill on Sunday during a sermon after the Liturgy at the skete of the Holy Prince Alexander Nevsky in the Moscow suburb of Peredelkino, the text of which appears on the website of the Russian Orthodox Church.
“Special gratitude would like to Express and doctors. Health workers are today at the forefront of the fight against the disease, reveal the true heroism and fidelity to their vocation. All this causes the most sincere admiration,” – said the Primate of the Russian Church.
the Patriarch said that he shared the pain of millions of Orthodox people who “yearn to partake of Holy communion and are unable to cross the threshold of the mother Church,” and also the feelings of the clergy who commits a worship behind closed doors and “today, deprived of material support.”
“Despite the complexity of the situation, we in all circumstances are designed to maintain peace, tranquility and discretion. Not to rebel and to burn with hatred, not to engage in endless search for enemies and, God forbid, to curse anyone, which in itself is unthinkable for a Christian,” – said the Patriarch.
He also thanked the sponsors for their support of the Church.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Synodal Department of the Moscow Patriarchate on relations of the Church with society and mass-media Vladimir Legoyda said that the Russian Orthodox Church supports the initiative to financially support the priests, since the Orthodox Church has a difficult situation due to the reduction of the flow of parishioners and donations.
the Moscow Patriarchate at the request of the chief sanitary doctor of the capital ordered the clergy of Moscow and Moscow region on April 13 to hold services without the participation of the congregation. Later, these restrictions were extended until further order of the hierarchy. Similar measures were introduced in many dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Current data on the situation of COVID-19 in Russia and the world presented on the portal stopmanager.of the Russian Federation.
