BELLINGSHAUSEN ANTARCTIC STATION /Waterloo Island/, February 17. /TASS/. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia on Wednesday served a Divine Liturgy at Russia’s Bellingshausen Antarctic station on Waterloo Island and raised a prayer for the entire world.

"Here, at the top of the world… When I blessed water in Antarctica today I was thinking about the entire planet below and prayed for this God’s creation," he said after the service which took place in the small wooden Holy Trinity Church, the only acting Orthodox church in Antarctica.

"There are such places in the world that require no words as the very site has a special spiritual energetics. And this spiritual energetics is especially felt during a prayer. This is such place. Maybe because people here are working in a very harsh environment, or maybe because they raise sincere prayers in this church, because they have strong faith," the Patriarch said.

The Patriarch presented an icon of St. Prince Vladimir, the Baptizer of Rus, as a gift to the church.

The church service was attended by Russian polar explorers and invited members of expeditions of other countries, including Chile.

Patriarch Kirill flew to Antarctica from Punta.

"The night before the patriarch arrived in Punta Arenas from Asuncion (Paraguay) to depart for Antarctica today at the invitation of Russian polar explorers. There he will serve the first Divine Liturgy in the only permanent cathedral in Antarctica - the Orthodox Holy Trinity Church at Russia’s Bellingshausen Station on Waterloo Island," the patriarch’s spokesman Father Alexander Volkov has said. "This is a historic event in the life of the Russian Orthodoxy indicating that the Russian Orthodox Church administers worship on all continents.".