WESTERN EUROPEAN DIOCESE: 14 July 2025
Feast-day celebrations at SS Peter and Paul Cathedral in Luxembourg

The feast day of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul was marked in Luxembourg by an archpastoral visit from the Ruling Bishop, His Grace Bishop Irenei of London and Western Europe. On this day, the services were conducted in a spirit of special joy, as the clergy and believers unanimously lifted prayers to the Holy Apostles, asking them to continue to bless and guide the Church both in Luxembourg and around the world.

Bishop Irenei arrived in Luxembourg with Deacon Pavel Lisitsyn and Reader Georgy Sultan, where he was welcomed by the parish rector, Archpriest Ioann Grigoritsa. Assisting His Grace in the services were: Archpriest Stefan Weerts (from Resurrection of Christ Parish in Brussels), Priest Pavel Golynsky (Basel), as well as a number of invited clergy from other parishes and dioceses.

The solemn all-night vigil on the eve of the feast was beautifully performed by the parish choir under the direction of Mother Veronica, after which Bishop Irenei shared a meal with the local clergy, members of the parish council, and other representatives of the parish administration. The next day, after the hierarchical greeting with bread and salt, a solemn Divine Liturgy in honor of the Holy Apostles was celebrated in the magnificent Luxembourg church — a gift to the faithful from the late Archpriest Sergei Poukh and his devoted widow, Matushka Emilia. Within these beautiful walls of the church, the archpastor and clergy led the prayers of the people of God and brought everyone to the holy communion of the Divine Mysteries of Christ.

At the end of the liturgy, Bishop Irenei delivered a sermon in Russian and French about the essence of the Church as being “apostolic,” and reminded the faithful that this is not only a fact of historical memory but also a constant reality of the Body of Christ, governed by apostolic grace.

“With thanksgiving in our hearts, today we keep the sacred memory of the holy leaders of the Apostles, the great SS Peter and Paul, to whom this blessed temple is dedicated. Today the whole Orthodox world rejoices in the keeping of this great Feast at the conclusion of the soul-profiting fast; but here, on this corner of land in the center of Luxembourg, we give especial thanks. Here, in a world so different from that the Apostles knew in their earthly ministry, the Faith that they proclaimed to the world continues to be lived out. Here, in one of the symbolic centres of Europe, the mission that they began in the regions surrounding the Mediterranean, continues. Here, in languages that neither St Peter nor St Paul knew, their voice resonates two-thousand years later, and the words of their glorification of God continue to speak to a needy world.

“To live under the spiritual protection of the Holy Apostles is a wonderful blessing. You know this, living and worshiping here in a temple perpetually dedicated to their honor, in which their holy icons are given constant centrality. Yet the very existence of today’s Feast is a reminder to all Christians that together we are all constantly under the spiritual protection of the Apostles. They are, as we hear in the hymnography of this Feast, the ‘pillars of the Church’ — and this is true not only of St Peter and St Paul, but of the whole Apostolic choir. They are the spiritual supports of the edifice built on the rock of the True Faith; the stonework and beams of the eternal temple of God’s glory in which we are called to salvation.

“The Church is Apostolic — something we confess at every Liturgy, as we recite the Symbol of Faith — and this is not a mere historical phenomenon. The Church is Apostolic because, in her, the Apostolic witness remains alive and Apostolic authority continues to govern the lives of those seeking to follow Christ Who commissioned the Apostles and instructed them to bring His voice to all the ends of the earth. Yes, that was long ago and, in worldly terms, the Apostles themselves are long dead; yet from their own testimony (and from all that we ourselves have seen, and understood, and experienced in the Christian life) we know that death has been defeated and even those in the graves are alive in Christ. Thus we know they are with us still, alive even today, present even in this place with us, now. We know they continue to bless and guide and support the Church into which we in our unworthiness are grafted, that we might be joined to their lives and grow closer to the God we all serve.

“And the Church is Apostolic, too, because these Apostles truly fulfilled and fulfil the charge given to them by Christ: at their hands, successors were chosen, new men were called and anointed, and the Apostolic mission expanded into the the Church across the whole world, and across history. Even in these difficult latter days, the Hierarchy of the Church receives this grace, and Apostolic hands are laid in our day upon new heads, lifting up Apostolic successors and — through their sacred ministry — new Priests and Deacons that serve in the Altars of the Lord. This is not ancient history: this is our present reality! And those first Apostles surely rejoice today and every day, in the heavenly places, beholding the continuation of the mission to which they so completely gave their earthly lives.

“Today St Peter and St Paul stand with us here; and they are surrounded by the other Apostles of that sacred ‘first choir’ that walked with the incarnate Saviour. They are surrounded, too, by the hundreds and thousands that have borne Apostolic rank over the centuries since those days, bearing the grace conveyed by those same first Apostles, and ensuring that never, not for a moment or a fraction of a moment, will the Lord’s Church be left without the sacred guidance and grace He first bestowed on those closest to Him. We are their spiritual sons and daughters, and we stand humbly in their presence as new generations become sons and daughters of our own — all united in the One True Faith, partaking of the One True Cup of the Body and Blood of the One and Only True God.

“May we have the blessed intercession of the Apostles as our sure support in this life, and may we rejoice with them that the Apostolic mission of the Church continues unhindered in our day. Let us be joyful in their testimony, confident in their legacy, and devote ourselves to joining our own hands to the great labour of the conversion of the world. Amen!”

At the end of Liturgy and the procession, joyful congratulations were expressed, and Fr Ioann conveyed his sincere joy from the solemn service performed by the Bishop together with the entire faithful congregation of Luxembourg. "Eternal memory" was proclaimed for the founders of the parish, while "many years" was proclaimed for the hierarchy, the parish council, and the believers, especially for all those named Peter and Paul, whose name day was celebrated on this day.

A festive lunch took place at the parish residence under the summer sun, during which the youth and children of the parish presented a wonderful musical concert in honor of the patron saint's feast. Bishop Iriney will remain in Luxembourg until the end of the weekend; on Sunday he again officiated at Divine Liturgy, after which he held a spiritual discussion with the parish youth group.

Western European Diocese