Celebrations on the Occasion of 25th Anniversary of Russian Orthodox Church in Kingdom of Thailand were Held in Bangkok

On November 26, 2024, the feast day of St. John Chrysostom, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations; Metropolitan Sergiy of Singapore and Southeast Asia, Patriarchal Exarch for Southeast Asia; Metropolitan Pavel of Manila and Hanoi; Archbishop Feofan of Korea; and Bishop Pitirim of Jakarta, vicar of the Diocese of Singapore, celebrated the Divine Liturgy at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Bangkok. The solemn service was dedicated to the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the presence of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Kingdom of Thailand.

Before the beginning of the Divine Liturgy, the reliquary with a particle of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was greeted in the church.

Co-serving with the hierarchs were: DECR vice-chairman, Archpriest Nikolay Lischenyuk; Secretary of the Diocese of Thailand and rector of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Bangkok, Archimandrite Oleg (Cherepanin); Rector of the Russian Orthodox Church branch in Tokyo, Japan, Archpriest Nikolai Katsyuban; Rector of the Church of the Archangel Michael in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) Archimandrite Pavel (Khokhlov); Rector of the Holy Trinity Church in Melbourne (Australia) Archpriest Igor Filyanovsky; Rector of the Church of the venerable Seraphim of Sarov on Koh Phangan Island in Thailand, Hieromonk Seraphim (Vasiliev); Acting Rector of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Tehran (Iran), Hegumen Varlaam (Dulsky); DECR secretary for foreign affairs, Archpriest Sergiy Zvonarev; Rector of the Church of the Apostle Thomas in Jakarta (Indonesia), Priest Boris Setiawan; Rector of the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God in Beijing on the territory of the Russian Embassy in China, Hieromonk Innokenty (Kolesnikov); Rector of the church of the right-believing prince Alexander Nevsky in Vientiane (Laos), Priest Dimitry Lavrentiev; Rector of the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in Vung Tau (Vietnam), Priest Evgeny Tsukalo; DECR staff member, Hieromonk Kirill (Peregudin); Rector of the Holy Trinity Parish in Chandrapur (India), Priest Clement Nechamaiya; Secretary of the DECR chairman, Priest Nikolay Vasin; Acting Rector of Holy Trinity Church in Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia), Priest Vladislav Ratnikov; clergy of the Diocese of Thailand and guests in the priesthood.

The service was performed in Church Slavonic, Thai, and English.

At the end of the service, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk greeted the participants of the festivities on behalf of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. Metropolitan Sergiy of Singapore and Southeast Asia gave a speech in response, after which an award ceremony took place.

In recognition of the aid to the Diocese of Thailand and in connection with the 25th anniversary of the Russian Orthodox Church in Thailand, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk presented Patriarchal awards. Archimandrite Oleg (Cherepanin), Secretary of the Diocese of Thailand, rector of St. Nicholas Cathedral in Bangkok, was awarded the Order of the venerable Sergiy of Radonezh (II degree); the cathedral warden, A.A. Tiutin was awarded the Order of the right-believing prince Daniel of Moscow (III degree); trade representative of Thailand,  Advisor to the Prime Minister of Thailand, Nalinii Tavesin and Momratchawong (junior member of the Royal House) Priyanantana Rangsit – the Order of the venerable Euphrosyne, Great Princess of Moscow (II degree).

Based on the materials from the website of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations

Present at the solemn Divine service were Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Kingdom of Thailand, E. Y. Tomikhin; Director of the Department for Work with Compatriots of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, G. A. Ovechko; Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, A. P. Lukashik; Chairman of the World Coordinating Council of Russian Compatriots M. V. Drozdov; representatives of organizations of Russian compatriots in Thailand, representatives of the Royal House and the Thai authorities.