NEWS STORY: Pope Writes Prayer for Unity With Russian Orthodox Church

c. 2004 Religion News Service (UNDATED) A prayer written in Russian by Pope John Paul II to venerate the icon of the Mother of God of Kazan before its return to the Russian Orthodox Church: Glorious Mother of Jesus, who proceeded before the people of God on the way of the faith, love and union […]

c. 2004 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) A prayer written in Russian by Pope John Paul II to venerate the icon of the Mother of God of Kazan before its return to the Russian Orthodox Church:

Glorious Mother of Jesus, who proceeded before the people of God on the way of the faith, love and union with Christ, you are blessed! All generations call you blessed because the Omnipotent has done great things for you, and holy is his name.


You are blessed and honored, O Mother, in your icon of Kazan, in which for centuries you have been surrounded by the veneration and love of the Orthodox faithful, having become protector and witness of the special works of God in the history of the Russian people, all very dear to us.

Divine Providence, which has the power to win over evil and to draw good even from bad works of men, has acted so that your icon, lost in long ago times, reappeared in the Sanctuary of Fatima in Portugal. Successively, by the will of people devoted to you, it was welcomed into the house of the Successor of Peter.

Mother of the Orthodox people, the presence in Rome of your holy image of Kazan speaks of a profound unity between East and West, which persists over time despite the historical divisions and the errors of men. Now we raise our prayer to you with special intensity, O Virgin, while we take leave of your evocative image. We accompany you with our heart along the path that will return you to holy Russia. Receive the praise and honor that the people of God that are in Rome render to you.

O blessed among all women, venerating your icon in this city marked by the blood of the Apostles Peter and Paul, the bishop of Rome unites spiritually with his brother in the episcopal ministry, who presides as patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. And he asks you, Holy Mother, to intercede in order to hasten the time of full unity between East and West, of full communion among all Christians.

MO/PH END

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