Author: Таиландская епархия

On January 22, the 32nd Sunday after Pentecost and after Theophany, the day of commemorating Holy Hierarch Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia, the wonderworker, with the blessing of the Patriarchal Exarch of South-East Asia, Metropolitan Sergiy of Singapore and South-East Asia, temporarily ruling the Thai diocese, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated on the territory of the Russian Embassy in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. The divine service was performed by the cleric of the Stavropol diocese, priest Anthony Skrynnikov.

The service was attended by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Myanmar Nikolay Alexandrovich Listopadov, the Chargé d’affaires a.i. of Serbia in Myanmar Gordana Jaksic, the Trade Representative of the Republic of Serbia Slobodan Shimik, embassy staff, as well as compatriots living in the country.

The day before, with the blessing of Metropolitan Sergiy of Singapore and South-East Asia, pastoral conversations with compatriots were held. Priest Anthony Skrynnikov held a conversation on the topic “What it means to be a Christian in the XXI century”, and Archpriest Vladimir Ostrozhinsky, cleric of the Stavropol diocese, met and held a conversation with primary school students of the embassy school.

On January 12, with the blessing of the Patriarchal Exarch of South-East Asia, Metropolitan Sergiy of Singapore and South-East Asia, Archimandrite Oleg (Cherepanin), Secretary of the Thai Diocese, accompanied by the cleric of St. Nicholas Cathedral, Hieromonk Micah (Phiaxayawong) and those working at the Diocese of Thailand, visited the Institute of Child Health in Bangkok, which is under the patronage of Her Royal Highness Queen Sirikit Kitiyakar.

On the feast of the Nativity of Christ, a collection of donations for the needs of sick children was organized in all the churches of the Thai diocese, during which it was possible to collect more than 100,000 Thai baht. With the assistance of the staff of the Institute of Children’s Health, the necessary clothes and food for children were purchased. In addition, financial assistance was transferred to parents of children under treatment. In total, charitable assistance was provided to 150 children aged from 3 months to 15 years. This is all the more relevant since during the week following the Nativity, Thailand celebrates The National Children’s Day.

The management of the medical institution allowed representatives of the Church to personally visit sick children and distribute charitable assistance. Archimandrite Oleg also met with the medical staff, thanked the leadership of the Institute for their help in organizing the care of sick children, wished strength and success to the doctors in their difficult ministry, and expressed the hope that the cooperation between the Thai diocesan administration will be as fruitful as in the pre-Covid period.

On the night of 6 to 7 January, on the feast of the Nativity of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, in the premises of the Russian House in Vientiane, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, the festive Divine Liturgy was served. The night before, on January 6, the faithful prayed at the All-Night Vigil. The service was also attended by the Russian Ambassador to Laos Vladimir Kalinin and his wife.

The statutory services of the feast were performed by priest Dimitry Lavrentiev, cleric of the Church of the Dormition of Most Holy Theotokos in Singapore.

After the Liturgy, those present gathered at the festive meal, carefully prepared in advance by the efforts of the believers themselves.

On December 19, in the St. Nicholas Cathedral of the Thai Diocese of the Patriarchal Exarchate of South-East Asia, celebrations were held on the occasion of the day of commemorating St. Nicholay, Archbishop of Mir of Lycia, the Wonderworker.

The Divine Liturgy on the day of the patronal feast of the cathedral was officiated by Archimandrite Oleg (Cherepanin), Secretary of the Diocese of Thailand, Patriarchal Exarchate of South-East Asia, co-served by the clergy of the diocese.

At the end of the Divine Liturgy, a procession of the cross took place, followed by glorification of St. Nicholay. In his speech, Archimandrite Oleg congratulated the assembled clergy and all those present on the feast and spoke about the active assistance of Nicholay the Wonderworker in the life of St. Nicholay’s Cathedral and the entire Thai diocese as a whole.

It is gratifying that, despite the weekday, not only the parishioners of the cathedral, but also numerous pilgrims from almost all parishes of the diocese came to honour the memory of the Saint of God.

At the end of the service, everyone was offered a festive trapeza in the diocesan house.

On Tuesday, 6^th of December, in Vientiane, the monument to Soviet transport aviation pilots who took part in the military actions in Indochina during the years of American aggression from 1960 to 1973 were opened.

The event was attended by: Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense of Laos Gen. Chansamone Chanyalath, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Laos Vladimir Kalinin, Chairman of the Russian-Lao Friendship Society Vladimir Sokolin, First Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Russian Peace Foundation Elena Sutormina, Academic of the Russian Academy of Social Sciences and prominent Russian public figure Igor Panfilov, Vicar of the Diocese of Singapore, Bishop Pitirim of Jakarta, as well as representatives of public organizations and artists.

“We honour the feat of the heroes who died in Laos, which is an example of courage and endurance for all of us. I am convinced that this feat will remain in the memory of the peoples of our countries, contributing to the further strengthening of the time-verified friendship and cooperation between Russia and Laos,” said Russian Ambassador to Laos Vladimir Kalinin.

“We highly appreciate the help of the Soviet Union and Russia in the field of defense and safety, especially in the area of military personnel training, building of the infrastructure and creating a material and technical base. The monument to Soviet military personnel has become clear evidence of the brotherly friendship of the peoples of Laos and Russia,” said Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense of Laos Gen. Chansamone Chanyalath.

Bishop Pitirim of Jakarta held a memorial service and blessed a monument to Soviet pilots.

The monument by the famous Russian sculptor Vitaly Shanov is located on one of the busiest central arterial roads of the Lao capital. The monument was created with the participation of the Russian-Laotian Friendship Society and the Ministry of Defense of Laos, news agency TASS reports.

Reference: during the years of American aggression in Indochina, Soviet pilots in Laos made over 19 thousand combat flights, transported more than 2.3 thousand tons of cargo. During the combat missions, more than 30 Soviet pilots and military specialists were killed.

On October 2, with the blessing of Patriarchal Exarch of South-east Asia, Metropolitan Sergiy of Singapore and South-east Asia, Administrator of the Diocese of Thailand, Bishop Pitirim of Jakarta, vicar of the Diocese of Singapore of the Patriarchal Exarchate of South-east Asia of the Russian Orthodox Church, began an archpastoral visit to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.

Upon arrival in Yangon, Bishop Pitirim performed a prayer service at the Russian Embassy in Myanmar and held a meeting with the staff of the diplomatic mission, members of their families and compatriots permanently residing here. During the conversation, Vladyka spoke about the purposes of his visit to Myanmar and answered questions of interest.

As a prayerful memory, Vladyka also donated an icon to the Embassy and to everyone who came – a small icon “The Image of the Lord Jesus Christ Not Made by Hands” with the blessing of Metropolitan Sergiy of Singapore and South-east Asia.

At the end of the meeting, a conversation was held with the Russian Ambassador to Myanmar N.A. Listopadov, during which issues of Russian-Myanmar cooperation in the religious sphere were raised. Hegumen Pavel (Khokhlov), a cleric of the Diocese of Singapore, also took part in the meeting.