On October 4, 2023, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, Friar Sergey ANOKHIN, a member of the Russian General Custody of St. Francis of Assisi, professed his solemn vows, thereby promising to live in obedience, without anything of his own and in chastity. The ceremony took place at the church of St. Anthony the Wonderworker in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The event was attended by numerous guests from Russia and abroad, including the Most Reverend Clemens PICKEL, Bishop of San Clemente a Saratov, Russia; the Most Reverend Nikolay DUBININ, OFM Conv., Auxiliary Bishop of Madre di Dio a Mosca [Moscow], Russia; and the Assistant General for the Foederatio Europae Mediae et Orientalis (FEMO), Friar Tomáš LESŇÁK.
Also present were various religious, priests, relatives, friends and acquaintances who gathered in the friary church and prayed that the newly professed might persevere on the path of holiness, following the example of St. Francis.
Bishop PICKEL presided over the Mass. In his homily, he stressed how the moment of taking one’s solemn vows “is not the culmination of his religious journey, but only the beginning of his journey leading to holiness”.
The General Custos of Russia, Friar Dariusz HARASIMOWICZ, who received the profession of vows, observed: “the sacrifice of one’s life is not easy. Being close to Jesus costs a lot, because one must offer Him more than words and feelings, one must offer his very self, all that he has and is.”
Friar Piotr KARNIALIUK
