” “On Saturday 7th December, the metropolitan bishop Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, head of the Department for Foreign Affairs of the Patriarchate of Moscow, consecrated the crypt of the Russian Orthodox Church of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, in Rome. The crypt was dedicated to the Saints Constantine and Helen. The liturgy for the consecration of the church was jointly celebrated by the archbishop Vincent of Ekatérinbourg in the presence of the archbishop Innocent of Chersonèse. The news was given today by the website of the diocese of Chersonèse in French. The Church of Saint Catherine, the second greatest parish of the Patriarchate of Moscow in Rome, began to be built in summer 2003, is still under construction, and, at the end of the liturgy, the metropolitan bishop Kirill expressed the wish that it may become a spiritual centre for the Russian Orthodox community of the capital. Also on Saturday, the metropolitan bishop visited the Basilica of Saint Peter’s to worship the relics of the apostle Peter, Pope Gregory and Saint Gregory of Nissa. Then he met the seminarians of the Patriarchate of Moscow who study in Rome. ” “
