Patriarch Kirill awarded the Order of St. Innocent of Moscow and Kolomna, Second Class, to Metropolitan Sergius of Singapore and Southeast Asia, according to the patriarchia.ru website. On June 22, the Patriarch received Metropolitan Sergius at the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra and presented him with this prestigious award in recognition of his diligent archpastoral labors and in honor of his 50th birthday. In addition to the order, Patriarch Kirill also gifted Metropolitan Sergius a commemorative cross and panagia.

The Order of St. Innocent was established in 1996 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Orthodox missionary St. Innocent (Ivan Popov-Veniaminov), Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna. This award is given to clergy and laypersons for successful work and educational activities in missionary departments, spiritual educational institutions, media, state and municipal educational institutions, and for work in rehabilitating victims of totalitarian sects. The order has three degrees.

St. Innocent (Veniaminov) was the first Orthodox bishop of Kamchatka, Yakutia, the Amur region, and North America. He enlightened the inhabitants of Kamchatka, the Aleutian Islands, and North America, baptized thousands of people, built churches with attached schools, and personally taught children in those schools. He conducted mass vaccinations against smallpox, which helped stop epidemics among the peoples he evangelized. In 1826, he created an alphabet for the Aleut language.

In October 1977, he was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Church in America as a saint in the rank of hierarchs, known as the Apostle of Siberia and America. In 1994, he was also canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

Photo: Patriarchal Exarchate of Southeast Asia / t.me/exarchateasia