On April 18, 2024, a prayer stand was held in the Trinity Cathedral of the Holy Trinity Seraphim-Diveevsky Monastery for servicemen of the Federal Service of the National Guard of the Russian Federation (Rosgvardiya) who are in the zone of a special military operation.
The prayer service for the servicemen of the Russian Guard was led by the dean of the Diveevsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese and the senior priest of this monastery, Priest Vladimir Kargin.
At the end of the prayer service with the akathist to St. Seraphim of Sarov, the clergy and military personnel venerated the relics of the saint.
Further, the meeting of the staff of the synodal department with the military personnel of the Sarov division of the Russian Guard continued in the conference hall of the monastery's pilgrimage center.
Priest Roman Bogdasarov said that the main help to soldiers today is prayer. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia blessed the clergy, who are engaged in the care of law enforcement troops, to conduct spiritual and moral actions with prayer for the Rosgvardiya. With the blessing of the chairman of the synodal military department, Metropolitan Kirill of Stavropol and Nevinnomyssk, the priests conduct a "Lenten prayer stand for the soldiers of the Russian Guard" who carry out their activities in difficult conditions of a special military operation and here in the rear, protecting law and order.
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The Lenten Prayer Stand for the Soldiers of the Russian Guard is taking place within the framework of the events provided for by the agreement on cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Federal Service of the National Guard Troops, signed in March 2024 by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and the Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard troops of the Russian Federation, Army General Viktor Zolotov.
The first Lenten Stand took place in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, where the soldiers of the Russian Guard and the clergy, together with the vicar Bishop Kirill, prayed at the relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh. Then the soldiers received a blessing from the relics of the great elders in the Pskov Pechery, where a prayer for Holy Russia was offered and a prayer service was held.
Further in Smolensk, the soldiers of the Rosgvardiya, led by Metropolitan Isidore of Smolensk and Dorogobuzhsky, held a special prayer stand at the relics of the holy warrior Mercury of Smolensk, the heavenly patron of the city and the entire Russian army.
After that, a prayer service was held at the monastery of St. Seraphim of Sarov in Diveevo.
In the future, it is planned to hold a Lenten standing at the grave of commander A.V. Suvorov in St. Petersburg. The action will end with the laying of a temple in honor of the blessed Prince Dimitri Donskoy in Stavropol.