The first Orthodox Liturgy was celebrated this Wednesday, when St. Alexis the Man of God is commemorated, at St. Alessio Basilica in Rome at the saint's relics, the Moscow Patriarchate reports on its website.
Administrator of Russian parishes in Italy Bishop Nestor of Korsun celebrated the Liturgy of Presanctified Gifts.
After the service he addressed the believers his archpastoral word and said about historical importance of celebrating the service at St. Alexis relics - the first Orthodox liturgy after division of Churches in the this basilica. The bishop thanked clerics and parishioners for joint prayer and congratulated those who celebrated their name day on March 30.
They chanted "Memory Eternal" to Archpriest Boris Razveyev who was a dissident in Soviet times, but spent his last years serving as a rector at St.Nicholas Parish in Verona.
St. Alexis is widely venerated in the West where he was born and lived the last part of his life and in the East where he worked for God in Edesa (now the city of Sanliurfa in South-East Turkey).
Russians have read the saint's life story since the 11th century. St. Alexis was especially venerated under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich as he was the monarch's heavenly protector.
Moscow, April 1, Interfax
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