About 110 thousand people took part in a procession along the main Avenue of Saint Petersburg, devoted to the Day of the relics of the Holy Prince Alexander Nevsky. TASS reported on Wednesday, the head of communications of the St. Petersburg Metropolia of the Russian Orthodox Church Natalia Rodomanova.
“According to our data, about 110,000 people took part in the procession,” – said the Agency interlocutor.
This year to participate in the citywide festive procession, which is held under the motto “Faith. Tradition. Unity” the believers arrived from the Leningrad region, Moscow, Yaroslavl, Tambov, Novgorod, Pskov, and also from Lithuania and Estonia.
A feature of the event this year was the fact that the head of the procession from the Kazan Cathedral to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, along with the Kazan icon of the Mother of God, also carried the ark with the right hand (right hand) of St. Spyridon, taken from the Greek island of Corfu.
The Church’s celebration started in the morning divine services at the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, Kazan Cathedral, where the Liturgy of the resurrection Novodevichy monastery brought the relics of Saint Spyridon. The procession along the Nevsky prospect was headed by the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga Varsonofy.
Twelfth day of September 1724 Peter I personally moved in he established a monastery the relics of St. Alexander Nevsky, resting until then in Vladimir. Citywide procession in honor of the Holy day was established in 1743 by the Empress Elizabeth. Tradition, interrupted during the Soviet years, were renewed during the celebration of the 300th anniversary of Alexander Nevsky Lavra in 2013.
The relics of St. Spyridon will be in St. Petersburg on September 14. From August 24 to October 15, the right hand one of the most revered in the Christian world, the saints will be presented for veneration to the believers in 12 regions of Russia. Before arriving in the city on the Neva the bringing of the ark took place in Krasnodar, Yekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk, Kemerovo, the Moscow region and Tula. After three days in St. Petersburg, the Shrine will go to Tver, Saratov, Cheboksary, Yaroslavl and Moscow.
Photo: Stanislav Marchenko/mitropolia.spb.EN