On Sunday Commemorating the Holy Princes Peter and Fevronia of Murom, Metropolitan Alexander Celebrated the Liturgy at the Representation of the Metropolitan District in Moscow

On September 15, 2024, the 12th Sunday after Pentecost, the commemoration of the Venerable Anthony and Theodosius of the Kiev Caves, founders of Russian monasticism, and the feast in honor of the Holy Right-Believing Princes Peter and Fevronia, Wonderworkers of Murom.

Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Holy Martyrs Faith, Hope, Charity, and their Mother Sophia, located at the Patriarchal Metochion in Moscow – the Representation of the Metropolitan District of Kazakhstan.

His Eminence was concelebrated by Hieromonk Agafangel (Gagua), Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor, and cleric of the Representation; Hieromonk Antony (Drobyazko), assistant to the Head of the Metropolitan District; and the clergy of the Metochion.

The staff of the Representation and parishioners of the church participated in the service.

The liturgical hymns were performed by the church choir under the direction of Anna Rozhnova.

The additional celebration in honor of the Holy Princes Peter and Fevronia, the patrons of Christian marriage, was established on December 25, 2012, by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church. It was decreed to be observed on the Sunday preceding September 19, in remembrance of the translation of the holy relics of the saints in 1992.

During the Sunday Liturgy, special petitions were offered in the litany and prayers for Orthodox families, for the increase of love, for the strengthening of peace, harmony, and mutual understanding among spouses, for the blessing of children, family well-being, and longevity.

At the conclusion of the service, the Head of the Metropolis congratulated the clergy and laity on the commemoration of the founders of Russian monasticism and the founders of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, as well as the celebration in honor of the holy patrons of Christian marriage. He then addressed the gathered faithful with an archpastoral sermon.

"We celebrate the feast day of the blessed princes Peter and Fevronia of Murom, the heavenly patrons of Christian marriage. And today, during the Divine Liturgy, we offered special prayers for the increase of love among people, for the preservation of married couples in peace and unity, in piety and purity. Reflecting on how to preserve family values in our age, which is filled with temptations and marked by the rise of selfishness, we must recognize one important fact: just as true personal holiness is a precious and rare gift from God, so too is the perfection of family relationships a divine gift.

And just as personal holiness is achieved through constant spiritual effort, so too does the virtue of family life come to spouses over time, through their spiritual labors. A marriage founded solely on earthly feelings, attachments, common interests, and affections can easily fall apart over time. What, then, makes a family strong and unbreakable? Psychologists, sociologists, and other scholars may offer hundreds of answers to this question and provide numerous pieces of advice. However, the Church sees the divine grace as the guarantor of the indissolubility and strength of the marital union.
God must enter the life of the family, and the family must become a small Church. A Christian family becomes a vessel of divine love, accumulating this love and spreading the fragrance of this sacred feeling, drawing other families toward itself, and sanctifying those near and far. Let us recall the words of St. Seraphim of Sarov: 'Acquire a peaceful spirit, and thousands around you will be saved.' It is fair to add to the thought of this great saint: 'Acquire a peaceful spirit within your family, and thousands of families around yours will be saved.' The family was created by God as a source of love and creative strength for all humanity. It is a school of love, a school of piety, a school of human happiness. It is within the family that a person learns fundamental norms of behavior and value orientations, receives moral upbringing, and becomes connected to the spiritual tradition of their people." — From the sermon of Metropolitan Alexander.