His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia celebrates his Name Day on the feast day of the Equal-to-the Apostles Methodius and Cyril, the teachers of the Slavs.

During the Divine Liturgy in the Trinity Cathedral of the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery, the monastery’s clergyman Archpriest Oleg Struchkov prayed solemnly to the Lord to grant health, salvation, and all good to our Great Lord and Father His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, a thanksgiving service for the health of the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church was served on the solea that concluded with the singing of “Many Years!”

The Primate stands at the front, before the fullness of the Church. He takes the first honor among the hierarchs of the local Church; his ministry is great, but at the same time, how great is the responsibility that rests upon him.

To be the successor of the apostles and a true servant of the Church means renouncing yourself and anything personal, taking the path of a follower of Christ and the self-sacrificial service to people.

The life’s path of the Patriarch is inextricably linked with the path that the Russian Orthodox Church has followed before and continues today. He said in his enthronement speech: “There is nothing personal and private in the life of the Patriarch: with his entire life, he belongs to God and the Church, his heart aches for the people of God, especially for those who have fallen away from church unity or haven’t yet found faith. Patriarchal ministry is a spiritual feat of special kind. One cannot carry out such feat alone or with the support of a limited circle of like-minded people. Through prayerful communion and collective effort, the whole episcopate, the fullness of the Church, with all the diversity of the gifts integral to its members, is drawn into this spiritual feat.”