Thousands Gather to Bid Farewell to Fr. Dimitry Smirnov

Pravmir.com team | 23 October 2020

Numerous hierarchs and clerics and thousands of faithful of the Russian Orthodox Church gathered in Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral to bid farewell to the newly-departed Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov this morning.

Fr. Dimitry reposed in the Lord on Wednesday at the age of 69, having suffered from several illnesses. He was a champion of the pro-life and pro-family movement and a powerful preacher who converted thousands.

The hierarchical Divine Liturgy and funeral service were led by His Eminence Metropolitan Dionysiy of Voskresensk, the Chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill earlier expressed his regret that he could not personally attend the funeral due to being in quarantine.

The service was livestreamed on the cathedral website by the Orthodox TV station Soyuz:

With the blessing of the Patriarch, Fr. Dimitry will be buried behind the altar at the Annunciation Church in Petrovsky Park in northwestern Moscow, where he served as rector.

Since you are here…

…we do have a small request. More and more people visit Orthodoxy and the World website. However, resources for editorial are scarce. In comparison to some mass media, we do not make paid subscription. It is our deepest belief that preaching Christ for money is wrong.

Having said that, Pravmir provides daily articles from an autonomous news service, weekly wall newspaper for churches, lectorium, photos, videos, hosting and servers. Editors and translators work together towards one goal: to make our four websites possible - Pravmir.ru, Neinvalid.ru, Matrony.ru and Pravmir.com. Therefore our request for help is understandable.

For example, 5 euros a month is it a lot or little? A cup of coffee? It is not that much for a family budget, but it is a significant amount for Pravmir.

If everyone reading Pravmir could donate 5 euros a month, they would contribute greatly to our ability to spread the word of Christ, Orthodoxy, life's purpose, family and society.