The icon of the Mother of God “Tenderness” comes from the cell of Venerable Seraphim and remained the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery’s major holy relic before its closure. Hegumenia Alexandra (Trakovskaya), the last abbess before the revolution, and the sisters preserved the icon in Murom. Nowadays, the Seraphim-Diveyevo icon “Tenderness” is kept in the Patriarchal residence at Moscow’s Chisty Lane. Once a year, on the feast of the Salutations to the Most Holy Mother of God, the holy icon is brought to the Theophany Cathedral in Elokhov. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia presides at the festive service.

This year, while many nations and countries are stricken by the life-threatening plague that has taken many thousands of lives away, the Patriarch will not only deliver this great relic to the Theophany Cathedral on April 3, the feast of the Salutations to the Most Holy Mother of God, but also will travel with it around Moscow between 4 and 6 pm (local time). At 6 pm, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill will arrive at the Cathedral Church in Elokhov and preside at the festive Matins service with the singing of the Akathist to the Most Blessed One.

Anyone is welcome to join the Primate of our Church in prayer during these hours and read the akathist to the Mother of God with an additional prayer “read during the times of harmful plague.”