On the evening of April 9, 2026, on the eve of Great and Holy Friday, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow presided over the Matins of Great Friday, with the reading of the Twelve Gospels of the Holy Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.
Concelebrating with the Patriarch were Metropolitan Grigory of Voskresensk, Chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate and First Vicar for the city of Moscow; Bishop Alexy of Ramenskoye, personal secretary to the Patriarch; Archpriest Mikhail Ryazantsev, Dean of the Cathedral; and members of the Moscow clergy.
Among those in attendance were the First Deputy Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation, Sergey Obryvalin, and the First Deputy Director of Russian Railways, Viktor Mikhailov.
The hymns of Great Friday were chanted by the Patriarchal Choir of the Cathedral (conducted by I. Tolkachev), Patriarchal Archdeacon Konstantin Bargan, a clergy choir under Archpriest Andrei Marushchak, and a women’s quartet from the youth movement “Patriarchal Volunteers,” directed by A. Golik.
Before the reading of the first Gospel, a portion of the Robe of the Lord and a Nail from the Cross were brought out from the altar and placed on a lectern in the center of the church.
According to tradition, after the fifth Gospel reading—after which the subsequent readings recount the Crucifixion—the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church brought out a cross bearing the Crucified Christ and placed it in the center of the church, while the antiphon “Today He is hung upon the Tree” was chanted.
Seven further Gospel readings, dedicated to the Passion of the Savior, followed.
At the conclusion of Matins, Patriarch Kirill, the hierarchs, clergy, and faithful paid their respects to the Cross, as well as the relics of the Robe of the Lord and the Nail from the Cross.
Source: patriarchia.ru
