On 7-9 September 2013, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia was on a primatial visit to the Orthodox Church of Moldova, timed to the bicentenary of the establishment of the diocese of Chişinău and All Moldova.
The official delegation accompanying the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church included Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations; Bishop Sergiy of Solnechnogorsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Administrative Secretariat; Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, chairman of the Department for Church-Society Relations; Mr. Vladimir Legoyda, chairman of the Synodal Information Department; Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, vice-chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations; Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk, DECR secretary for inter-Orthodox relations; protodeacon Vladimir Nazarkin, assistant to the DECR chairman; and Mr. Mikhail Kuksov, acting head of the Patriarchal personal secretariat.
On September 7, the Primate arrived in Chişinău where he was met by Metropolitan Vladimir of Chişinău and All Moldova, Mr. Farit Mukhametshin, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Moldova, and by the clergy of the Orthodox Church of Moldova.
The Primate of the Russian Church took part in the celebration on the occasion of the bicentenary of the Metropolis of Chişinău and All Moldova which was held at the ‘Nicolae Sulac’ National Palace.
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill met with Mr. Nicolae Timofti, President of the Republic of Moldova; Mr. Vladimir Filat, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova; and with leaders of the Orthodox initiatives in Moldova.
That same day, the Primate visited the Căpriana Monastery of the Dormition of the Mother of God near Chişinău.
On behalf of Patriarch Kirill, flowers were laid at the monument to Prince Stephan the Great (Ștefan cel Mare) in Chişinău.
On September 8, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill officiated at the Divine Liturgy in the square before the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ in Chişinău.
After that, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church met with Mr. Iurie Leancă, Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova; Mr. Igor Corman, President of the Parliament; and with Mr. Vladimir Voronin, head of the Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova.
A solemn reception was given in honour of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia on behalf of Moldova’s leaders.
Then the Primate of the Russian Church arrived in the diocese of Tiraspol and said a thanksgiving at the Tiraspol Icon of the Mother of God “the Seeking of the Lost” in the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ.
On 9 September 2013, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia visited the Tiraspol Monastery of the Entrance of the Holy Theotokos into the Temple, which is under construction, blessed the crosses to be installed atop the monastery’s church and the icons of the Mother of God.
That same day, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia met with Transnistrian people in the Suvorov square in Tiraspol. Present at the meeting was Mr. Yevgeny Shevchuk, President of Transnistria.
The Primate of the Russian Church also visited the Noul Neamţ Monastery in Chiţcani near Tiraspol and the Church of St Alexander Nevsky in Bendery.
Having returned to Chişinău, Patriarch Kirill talked to the press and after that departed for Moscow. Seeing him off at the airport were Metropolitan Vladimir of Chişinău and All Moldova, bishops and clergy of the Orthodox Church of Moldova, and Mr. Farit Mukhametshin, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Moldova.
Source: DECR
