On December 18, on the eve of the memorial day of St. Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra of Lycia, the Wonderworker, an evening divine service with the reading of the Akathist was held at St. Nicholas Church in Myra of Lycia (modern Demre, Turkey).
On December 19, the memorial day of St. Nicholas of Myra, Priest Georgy Sergeev, responsible for organizing the care of the flock of the Moscow Patriarchate in the territory of the Turkish Republic, celebrated the Divine Liturgy in Demre.
The service was attended by Priest Alexy Golovin, Priest Dimitri Bogatyr and Hieromonk Palladius (Bystrov), clerics of the Moscow Patriarchate who care for the communities of the Russian Orthodox Church in Antalya, Alanya and Akkuyu.
At a special litany, special petitions were made, and a prayer for Holy Russia was read.
More than 300 pilgrims from different regions of Turkey, as well as Russian specialists working on the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, prayed at the service.
At the end of the Liturgy, the faithful took part in a prayer service to St. Nicholas.
Then Father George congratulated all those present on the day of memory of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The priest thanked the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the management of the museum in Demre for permission to perform divine services, as well as the Society of Orthodox Russian-speaking Believers of Antalya Province and the Russian Society of Art and Culture of Antalya for assistance in organizing the pilgrimage of believers.
At the end of the Liturgy, a Holy water prayer service was held.
Then a funeral service was held for A.G. Karlov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Turkey, who was killed by a terrorist on December 19, 2016 in Ankara.
Believers laid flowers at the monument to the Hero of the Russian Federation A.G. Karlov on the main street of Demre, named after the deceased diplomat.