« On the feast of the Procession of the Precious Wood of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord, divine Liturgy was celebrated at the Dormition Cathedral in London »

On the feast of the Procession of the Precious Wood of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, the feast of the All-Merciful Savior and the Most Holy Mother of God, the day of remembrance of the seven martyrs of Maccabees, their mother Solomonia and their teacher Eleazar, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated at the Dormition Cathedral in London.

With the blessing of His Grace Bishop Matthew of Sourozh, the divine service was led by the Dean of the Diocesan District of South East England, Archpriest Vitaly Polishchuk, assisted by Archpriest Maxim Nikolsky, Secretary of the Diocese of Sourozh Archpriest Dimitry Nedostupenko, clerics of the UOC, temporarily residing on the territory of the Diocese of Sourozh, and Protodeacon Vadim Santsevitch.

Liturgical hymns were performed by the choir of the Dormition Cathedral under the direction of Dmitry Tugarinov.

After the augmented litany, Archpriest Vitaly read a prayer for the granting of peace.

Following the prayer behind the ambo, the rite of the small consecration of water was performed as well as, according to custom, the consecration of honey.  Then the clergy venerated the Cross of the Lord, which had been taken out of the altar into the center of the Cathedral the night before.

At the end of the divine service, Father Vitaly addressed the parishioners with a sermon on the theme of the feast. Simultaneous translation into English was provided by Protodeacon Vadim Santsevitch.

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