Synaxis of the Holy Glorious Prophet Forerunner and Baptist John, celebrated in the diocesan Cathedral of Comrat

The memory of the righteous is celebrated with hymns of praise, / but the Lord’s testimony is sufficient for you, O Forerunner. / You were shown in truth to be the most honorable of the prophets, / for you were deemed worthy to baptize in the streams of the Jordan Him whom they foretold. / Therefore, having suffered for the truth with joy, / you proclaimed to those in hell God who appeared in the flesh, / who takes away the sin of the world, and grants us great mercy. (Troparion of the Feast)

The second day after the Feast of the Baptismal of our Lord Jesus Christ the Orthodox Church celebrates the Synaxis of the Holy Glorious Prophet Forerunner and Baptist John. This feast was established since very early in the Church, to express prayerful commemoration and veneration of the one who served the Lord in the Mystery of the divine Baptismal, laying his hand on the head of the Master.

It has already become a tradition that on this day His Eminence Metropolitan Vladimir officiate the Divine Liturgy in the diocesan Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Cormat, Gagauzia region of the Republic of Moldova.

The Hierarch was greeted with much spiritual joy by His Grace Bishop Anatolie of Cahul and Comrat, Mrs. Irina Vlah, Governor of Gagauzia authonomy, representatives of the local public authorities, and numerous church-goers.

Concelebrating to the Metropolitan was also His Grace Nicodim, Bishop of Edinet and Briceni, Archpriest Petru Cheles, Dean of Comrat church circumscriptionon, Archimandrite Nicolae (Rosca), Confessor-administrator of Ciuflea Monastery (Chisinau), and the synaxis of priests and deacons of Comrat Cathedral.

During the Divine Servicec the clergy and lay Christians prayed for the heavenly intercession and help of St. John the Forerunner and Baptist of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Liturgy ended with a Thanks-Giving Service at the icon of St. John the Baptist, after which the Metropolitan congratulated the church-goers of Comrat on this bright Feast and their Patron’s Day, and called everyone to exhibit love and live in the light of the teaching of the Holy Orthodox Church.

His Grace Bishop Anatolie came up with a message of gratitude and called the Christians from Comrat to live united in prayer, in the light of our ancestral faith, preserving with holiness the moral and spiritual values of our Church and our ancestors.

In the memory of today’s prayerful event, the church-goers received from the Metropolitan icons of Holy Hierarch Gavriil (Banulescu-Bodoni) from Capriana Monastery and of Blessed Agafia of Cuselauca Monastery, in sing of blessing and spiritual strengthening.

Synodal Sector of Institutional Communication and Relations with the Mass-Media