EKATERINBURG DIOCESE: July 10, 2018
Bishop George of Canberra participates in divine services in Novo-Tikhvinsky Monastery during a pilgrimage to the holy sites of the Urals

On July 9, 2018, the 635th anniversary of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God and the feast day of St Alexander Nevsky-Novo Tikhvinsky Convent, a hierarchal Liturgy was celebrated. Officiating were His Eminence Metropolitan Kirill of Ekaterinburg and Verkhotursk; His Grace Bishop George of Canberra, Vicar of the Diocese of Australia and New Zealand of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia; His Grace Bishop Mefody of Kamensk and Alapaevsk; His Grace Bishop Evgeny of Nizhnetagilsk and Nevyansk, and His Grace Bishop Aleksy of Serovsk and Krasnotrutino. A multitude of clergymen of the Ekaterinburg Metropoliate and the Russian Church Abroad also served. Protopriest Artemy Vladimirov, visiting from Moscow, delivered the sermon.

Several thousand worshipers venerated the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God. Many had to stand outside the church and in the courtyard during the service. Priests emerged from the church to administer the Holy Gifts.

After Liturgy, the traditional procession of the cross with the Tikhvin Icon was held around St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.

After a moleben, Metropolitan Kirill congratulated and blessed the worshipers:

I congratulate you, dear fathers, brothers and sisters, on this feast day of the Icon of the Mother of God known as the “Tikhvin Icon,” which miraculously appeared 635 years ago near the city of Tikhvin. Since then, the Russian people venerate it and deem it a sign of the special love that the Mother of God has for our land and all those who live here and venerate Her. Venerating the Mother of God is a good work of every true Christian. There is an abundant number of reasons to do so; not only when we celebrate one of the Twelve Great Feasts in her honor, or for Her icons, like today, before the Tikhvin Icon. Whoever is a believer, who attends church, opens the calendar and finds almost daily the commemoration of one icon or another of the Most-Holy Mother of God. This is simply an expression of love and respect, the veneration by the people of the Theotokos, through the veneration of one of Her icons or another.

Today we are in this holy convent, with love and gratitude to God bowing down before the Most-Holy Mother of God, before Her image called the “Tikhvin Icon,” as we pray and ask for intercession for our city, for our nation, that the Mother of God pray for us, intercede for us, console us.