On Saturday evening, January 31, the eve of the Sunday of the Publican & the Pharisee, with the blessing of His Holiness Kyrill, Patriarch of Moscow & All Russia, His Grace, Eastern American Diocesan vicar Bishop Nicholas of Manhattan, led the All-Night Vigil in Moscow’s Holy Epiphany Cathedral in Yelokhovo. After venerating the relics of the Holy Hierarch Alexius, Metropolitan of Moscow & All Russia, the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, and other holy icons and relics, His Grace prayed at Vespers and then emerged from the altar for the Polyeleos. After the reading of the Gospel and the singing of "The Doors of Repentance open unto me," Bishop Nicholas anointed a multitude of worshipers with holy oil.

Earlier that day, His Eminence Hilarion, Metropolitan of Eastern America & New York, arrived in Moscow as part of a delegation of hierarchs of the Russian Church Abroad, who will participate in the celebration of the sixth anniversary of the Patriarchal Enthronement, and in the work of the Bishops Conference of the Russian Orthodox Church.