Metropolitan Anthony to be committed to the ground on August 13

A service commemorating Metropolitan Anthony (Blum) of Surozh will take place at the Cathedral of the Dormition and All Saints in downtown London. The deceased holy father's body was brought to the Cathedral yesterday.

The burial service will be held at the cathedral on Wednesday, August 13. Metropolitan Anthony of Surozh served to the Russian Orthodox Church in Great Britain for more than 50 years.

His body will then be buried at London's Brompton Cemetery, said the Moscow Patriarchy's foreign church relations department.

Metropolitan Anthony died on August 4 at the age of 89.

He had been a well-known church figure in Britain, Russia and many other countries.

He contributed considerably to the spread of orthodoxy in Britain and Western Europe at large. Orthodox parishes grew in number up to 30 in Britain and Ireland when Metropolitan Anthony was the ruling bishop of the Surozh diocese. There had been only one Orthodox parish before.

On July 30, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church decided to grant the metropolitan's request for retirement due to a severe disease.

The Holy Synod appointed Bishop Basil (Osborn) of Sergievo temporarily in charge of the Surzh diocese.