“Without us there will be no greatness of the Fatherland”: on Youth Day, Metropolitan John performed a prayer service and ordained seminarians as readerstranslated

With the blessing of Metropolitan John of Belgorod and Stary Oskol

On the day of the celebration of All-Russian Youth Day, a solemn prayer service was held in the Innocent Church of the Belgorod Seminary, which was performed by the Head of the Belgorod Metropolis, Metropolitan John.

The Bishop performed the rite of consecration as a reader for four fourth-year seminary graduates. Hirothesia as a reader is an ancient church institution dating back to the first centuries of Christianity. Readers are called upon to read the Holy Scriptures during services and participate in choir obedience. This is the first degree of priesthood, which precedes deaconal and priestly ordination. Unlike ordination (ordination as deacons and priests), ordination is performed by the bishop through the laying on of hands and prayer, but without invoking the Holy Spirit on the ordained in a mysterious sense - it introduces him into the circle of clergy.

Metropolitan John, addressing the newly ordained, emphasized that this step is only the beginning of a long journey: “This does not mean that they will automatically become priests in the future. They still have to make a choice: either get married, or take monastic vows, so that in the future they can ask God and the clergy to become deacons...