Thousands Line Up in Moscow to See Cross of St Andrew

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Thousands of pilgrims came to Moscow‘s largest cathedral to touch and kiss the Cross of St Andrew, with psychologists recruited to mind the crowd and help keep conflicts to a minimum. A relic of one of the patron saints of Russia, the Foundation of St Andrew the First-Called brought the cross from Patras in Greece, to mark the 1025th anniversary of Russia’s baptism. The relic, which drew hundreds of thousands of pilgrims while on display in St Petersburg last week, will be at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour from Friday to 25 July, after which it’ll go to the Ukraine and Belarus. Sergei Tiunov, head of the group of psychologists to tend to the line in Moscow, said that his team would provide help for people who might be in an overexcited emotional state, saying, “Our task is to prevent all force majeure situations in the crowd, to prevent all misunderstandings and conflicts”, adding that his team would help all those lost in the crowd or in a need of a headache pill. This isn’t the first time that Moscow’s biggest cathedral is seeing large flocks of pilgrims. Almost a million believers from all over Russia, as well as other former Soviet states, flocked to the Russian capital amidst freezing temperatures in November 2011 to venerate the Belt of the Mother of God, which Christians believe was worn by Jesus’ mother.

19 July 2013

RIA-Novosti

http://www.en.rian.ru/art_living/20130719/182330687/Thousands-Line-Up-in-Moscow-to-See-Cross-of-St-Andrew.html

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Russians Flock to See the Cross of St Andrew Ahead Of Baptism Anniversary

HH at the service for the Cross of St Andrew in St Petersburg… he appears to be anointing Vladimir Yakunin. 

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An express train with a special chapel carriage brought a sacred Christian relic from St Petersburg to Moscow, the Cross of St Andrew, upon which Apostle St Andrew the First-Called was crucified. Believers met it at the Kursk Station, including passengers, railway workers, clergy, and Moscow area officials. Sergei Stchebligin, President of the Foundation of St Andrew the First-Called, who facilitated the bringing of the relic from Greece to Russia, noted the fact that during its five days in St Petersburg, no less than 200,000 people came to venerate the cross, but there’d been no disorder, there were no conflicts in queue. He said, “Both guards and pilgrims were attentive to each other, they helped the elderly and children, they shared their drinking water”.

Clergy served a molieben right at the train station, after which the reliquary with the relic was taken by automobile to the Cathedral of St George the all-Victorious in Odintsovo in Moscow Oblast. Addressing the assembled believers, Metropolitan Yuvenaly Poyarkov of Krutitsy and Kolomna, Patriarchal Vicar of the Diocese of Moscow, said that the choice of the Moscow Oblast cities of Odintsovo and Dmitrov as venues for the Cross of Andrew wasn’t by chance, noting, “The churches there are now restored, Church life is undergoing a revival, and many believers live there, for whom the veneration of the Cross of St Andrew would be a singular joy”.

A Greek delegation, and Aleksandr Gladyshev, the head of Odintsovo Raion of Moscow Oblast, accompanied the cross to its destination. At 11.00 MSK, the cross will arrive in Odintsovo. Believers can venerate the relic today until 22.00 MSK, and tomorrow from 07.00 to 15.00 MSK. Then, the Cross of St Andrew will go to the Cathedral of the Assumption in Dmitrov. On 17 July, at 17.00 MSK, the first molieben will begin, and access to the church will be open until 23.00 MSK. On 18 July, one can visit the Cathedral from 07.00 to 23.00 MSK, and on 19 July, from 07.00 until 12.00 MSK.

From 19 to 26 July, the relic will be at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, from 26 to 28 July in the Kievo-Percherskaya Lavra in Kiev in the Ukraine, and from July 29 to 2 August in the Memorial Church of All Saints and of All Innocent Victims in Our Motherland in Minsk in Belarus. The coming of the Cross of St Andrew Cross from Greece to Russia opened a series of celebrations dedicated to the 1,025th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus, which unites three states… Russia, the Ukraine, and Belarus.

16 July 2013

Voice of Russia World Service

http://english.ruvr.ru/news/2013_07_16/Russians-flock-to-see-St-Andrews-Cross-ahead-of-Baptism-anniversary-5757/

14 July 2013. A Photo Essay… The Coming of the Cross of St Andrew to St Petersburg, 11 July 2013

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Thousands Queue In Russia to See Religious Relic

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On Saturday, officials said that around 65,000 people queued for hours in St Petersburg to see a religious relic brought from Greece, in the latest sign of the Orthodox Church’s influence in post-Soviet Russia. The Cross of St Andrew… said to be a relic of the X-shaped cross on which Apostle St Andrew the First-Called was crucified… was placed in St Petersburg’s Kazan Cathedral (Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God) on Thursday after arriving from its historic home in Patras in Greece. A representative of the Foundation of St Andrew the First-Called, which helped bring the cross to Russia, told RIA-Novosti that there were some 65,000 visitors in just the first days of its display, and that the numbers are increasing all the time.

The cross came from Greece as part of commemorations of the 1,025th anniversary of the Baptism of the mediaeval Slavic state of Rus. The queue to see the relic snaked all around the cathedral with the faithful having to wait for several hours to venerate the relic. Local officials said that the atmosphere in the queue was cheerful. Tatiana Koroliova, 60, told AFP, “It’s a great event for all Orthodox. I came especially to St Petersburg from my house in the country which is 200 kilometres (125 miles) away”. The excitement recalls the frenzy that surrounded the appearance of the Belt of the Virgin Mary in Russia in 2011… also on loan from Greece… which attracted gigantic queues when it arrived in Moscow.

The communists suppressed the Orthodox Church, but it’s staged an astonishing recovery in post-Soviet Russia to become one of the country’s most powerful institutions. Symbolically, the Cross of St Andrew cross is being shown in the Kazan Cathedral in St Petersburg, which under Communism was a museum of atheism. However, the anti-Kremlin opposition accused the Orthodox Church under its powerful Patriarch Kirill of meddling in politics and instigating the harsh treatment of the Pussy Riot punk group. Two members of the punk collective are serving two-year prison colony terms for performing an anti-Kremlin song inside a Moscow church, in a case that divided Russian society. The relic is due to stay in St Petersburg until Monday, and then be taken to Kiev in the Ukraine, Minsk in Belarus, and to the Russian capital of Moscow before returning to Greece on 2 August.

13 July 2013

AFP

http://www.afpbb.co.kr/html/view.html?ano=21492

Editor’s Note:

The journey of the Cross of St Andrew is so “newsy” that even the Western press agencies are covering it. Take all Western reportage on the Rodina with a block of salt… much of it is nothing but meretricious and lying pro-crapitalist propaganda (especially, mistrust “Orthodox” lickspittles such as Sophia Kishkovsky and Serge Schmemann… they’ve sold out for the proverbial “mess of pottage“). Look at the inclusion of a blurb on Pussy Riot… most Russians don’t give a shit about these zapadniki poseurs… only a small English-speaking minority in Piter and the Centre do… and the clueless Westerners just eat it all up. However, don’t argue with Amerikantsy idiots about it… it’ll do you no good, it’ll just frustrate you to no good end, and it’ll just drive the Fox News propaganda deeper into your interlocutor’s (shallow) mind. Do mind this, though… the worst, most fanatic, and most closed-minded Amerikantsy are found amongst the “Orthodox” konvertsy… fancy that. Have a care…

BMD