On September 10, Met. Georgiy of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas presided at the prayer service and the akathist to Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, the Divine Liturgy, and panikhida at the Holy Trinity Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery. The services were held in the monastery’s Trinity Cathedral, the location of the shrine with Venerable Seraphim’s holy relics.

Concelebrating the ruling hierarch were Rev. Fr. Pavel Pokrovsky, Dean of the Diveyevo Deanery, Rev. Fr. Vladimir Kargin, senior priest of the monastery with other clergy of the Nizhny Novgorod Diocese. The abbess of the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery Hegumenia Sergiya (Konkova) with sisters, pilgrims, and parishioners prayed at the services.

At the end of the liturgy, Met. Georgiy in his archpastoral word spoke about obedience. His Eminence Georgiy underlined what the Lord Himself tells us in the Scriptures: “Because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent Me” (John 5:30). In the monasteries, obedience is placed above fasting and prayer. Just as by disobedience our ancestors Adam and Eve were expulsed from Eden, so does sin can be banished by obedience. The archpastor of Nizhny Novgorod called on everyone to seek God’s will and attempt to live accordingly.

Later in the day, His Eminence Georgiy served a remembrance litya at the monastery’s skete of the holy martyrs Sts. Florus and Laurus.

Photo: nne.ru