Patriarch Kirill prays before Vatopedi Monastery sanctuaries on Mount Athos
MOUNT ATHOS. June 7 (Interfax) - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia visited the Monastery of Vatopedi on Mount Athos in Greece on Thursday.
"The history of the Holy Mount has been linked with the history of Russia for a thousand years," Patriarch Kirill said during a religious service.
"The [Vatopedi] monastery also became a participant and witness of the revival of the Russian Church, which passed through its Golgotha in the 20th century, when it brought the Belt of the Virgin Mary to our country to worship," he said.
He once again thanked the Monastery of Vatopedi for bringing this sanctuary to Russia.
"You witnessed this miracle when nearly four million people were able to pray before this holy belt and touch it," the head of the Russian Orthodox Church said.
This miracle happened amid a crisis of faith, when "churches stand empty in many countries and people reject spiritual knowledge being misled by the false understanding of the term knowledge," he said.
There is also documentary evidence of the miracles linked with the worshipping of the Belt of the Virgin Mary by Russians, Patriarch Kirill said.
After the religious service, he prayed in front of the sanctuaries kept in the monastery, including a fragment of the Holy Cross, the Belt of the Virgin Mary and several icons of the Virgin Mary that are held in high esteem by Orthodox Christians for their miracle-working powers.
Vatopedi is one of the oldest, richest and largest monasteries on Mount Athos.