On the eve of the Julian calendar New Year, a prayer service was held in the Trinity Cathedral of the Seraphim-Diveyevo monastery with Metropolitan Georgiy of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas presiding.

During the New Year prayers, we beseeched the Lord: “We thank Thy benevolence that Thou amazed us in the year that had passed and we pray to Thee, O most merciful Lord!  Bless the crown of the coming year with Thy goodness. Send from on high Thy mercy to all Thy people, health, salvation and blessed success in all.”

After the dismissal prayers, the choir sang “Many Years!”

Upon the conclusion of the prayer service, His Eminence the Metropolitan emphasized to the faithful that passions are at the root of our problems, whereas the purity of the heart is the essential virtue that allows us to choose the right words and to do the right deeds.

Later on, the cross procession walked around the Holy Kanavka. Everyone joined at reciting the prayer rule of the Mother of God given by Venerable Seraphim of Sarov. The faithful prayed hoping that there is no request, despite it being too mundane or worldly, that the Mother of God wouldn’t answer to the glory of Her Son.