Words spoken at the nomination and consecration of Archimandrite Kirill (Gundyaev) – now the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church – as Bishop of Vyborg, vicar of the Leningrad Diocese, in 1976

Exactly 50 years ago, on 13 March 1976, at the Church of the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian at the Leningrad Theological Academy, the nomination took place, and on the following day, 14 March, on the First Sunday of Great Lent, the Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, during the Divine Liturgy at the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in Leningrad, the episcopal consecration of Archimandrite Kirill – the future Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’ – took place.

The service was presided over by the ever-memorable Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov), whom His Holiness Patriarch Kirill calls his spiritual mentor and teacher.

The portal Patriarchia.ru has published the word of Archimandrite Kirill, now the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, spoken at his nomination as Bishop of Vyborg, and the word of Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningrad and Novgorod delivered at the presentation of the episcopal staff to His Grace Kirill, Bishop of Vyborg.