25th Anniversary of Chernobyl Disaster Commemorated

In commemoration of today's 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster Patriarch Kirill (Gundyayev) of Moscow and All Rus' and Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan) of Kiev traveled to St. Elijah's Church, the only functioning church in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, to serve a supplication there. Concelebrating the service were hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church from Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. In attendance at the supplication were Presidents Dmitriy A. Medvedev of Russia and Viktor F. Yanukovych of Ukraine together with many other faithful. More here. Patriarch Kirill's encyclical commemorating the Chernobyl disaster can be found here, .

Meeting of Belorussian Orthodox Local Synod

At the meeting of the Local Synod of the Belorussian Orthodox Church yesterday it was decided to glorify a saint who struggled against the Unia, Archimandrite Leontius (Karpovich) of Vilnius, and to mark the upcoming 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster. In addition to the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church in Belarus the meeting was also attended by high ranking officials of the Belorussian government. More here.