On 8 December 2011 the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia marked the 60th anniversary since it was granted canonical autocephaly by the Russian Orthodox Church. On that day, solemn celebrations devoted to the anniversary took place in Prague.
The Divine Liturgy was celebrated at St. Nicholas’s in Staromestska Square by His Beatitude Christopher, Metropolitan of the Czech Lands and Slovakia. Among this concelebrants were Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations, hierarchs of the Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia and Polish Orthodox Church, as well as numerous clergy. Present in the church were also representatives of non-Orthodox confessions in the Czech Republic.
The Moscow Synodal Choir sang hymns arranged by Tchaikovsky, which were heard in that church for the first time in 1888.
After the Post-communion Prayer, Metropolitan Hilarion read out a congratulatory letter from His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Church. As a token of the event, Metropolitan Hilarion presented Metropolitan Christopher with an icon of Our Lady of Kazan, on behalf of Patriarch Kirill.
After the service, a grand reception took place, during which Metropolitan Hilarion warmly congratulated Metropolitan Christopher and all the present on the significant jubilee of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia.