On 20 October 20, the Belt of the Most Holy Mother of God came to Russia for the first time from Vatopedi Monastery on Mount Athos. Orthodox Christians believe that the belt’s miraculous and that it’s a special help with childbirth. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met the delegation carrying the reliquary with the Belt at Pulkovo Airport in St Petersburg.
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The monks from Vatopedi who carried the reliquary showed it to Vladimir Vladimirovich, and clergy from the Diocese of St Petersburg served a molieben before it.
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From the airport, a procession carried the reliquary to the Icon of Kazan Cathedral of the Resurrection Novodevichy Convent of St Petersburg, where Metropolitan Vladimir Kotlyarov of St Petersburg and Ladoga and some of his clergy served molieben before the reliquary of the Belt of the Most Holy Mother of God.
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Metropolitan Vladimir of St Petersburg and Ladoga holding the reliquary of the Belt of the Most Holy Mother of God in the Icon of Kazan Cathedral of the Resurrection Novodevichy Convent.
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The Belt of the Most Holy Mother of God, which is now divided into three parts, is the only surviving relic of her earthly life. According to legend, the Mother of God wore a belt woven from camel wool, and, after her death and Assumption (Вознесении), it came into the hands of the Apostle St Thomas. In the first centuries of the Christian era, it was held in Jerusalem. In the 4th century, we know that it was in the Cappadocian town of Zela, and in the same century, Emperor Theodosius the Great once again returned it to Jerusalem. Later on, his son Arkadios took the relic to Constantinople.
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The Belt remained in Constantinople until the end of the 12th century. However, one of the consequences of the defeat of Isaac Angelos by the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Asen was that the Bulgars seized the Belt and took it to Bulgaria. It later fell to the Serbs. Prince Lazar I Hrebeljanović gave the Belt and a piece of the True Cross to Vatopedi Monastery. Since then, the monks have kept it in the sanctuary of the Katholikon of the main cathedral at the Monastery.
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There have been countless miracles worked through the intercession of the Holy Belt over the centuries.
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For the first time since it came to Vatopedi Monastery, the Holy Belt was taken beyond Greece. Usually, once a year, the reliquary with the Belt visits Greek towns upon request, but it never went outside the country. An exception was made for Russia.
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The reliquary with the Belt will be in Russia from 20 October to 23 November, the Vatopedi delegation will visit 12 cities, in the Northern, Far Eastern, and Southern regions.
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21 October 2011
Voice of Russia World Service
http://rus.ruvr.ru/photoalbum/59093714/59093717/index.html
Editor’s Note:
I’d guess that the Belt would go to Valaam (in the North), Vladivostok (Far East), and Kiev (in the South)… yes, Virginia, I’m sure that His Holiness would serve a molieben before the Belt at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. It wouldn’t surprise me to see it at Optina or Diveyevo.
Note well that VOR isn’t a “religious” source… it’s a regular “secular” news agency. I specialise in giving you news from secular sources with a “secular” take, not a “clerical” perspective, on Church affairs. That’s why I avoid patriarchia.ru, save for vetting secular reports. If it’s the only source on a major story, I’ll go with it, but I prefer secular sources to clerical ones. This is to give you the balanced sort of reporting that believers have in the Rodina. People have access to both religious and secular sources on Church events… it’s a great corrective to the secretiveness and lying that’s endemic in the OCA and ROCOR (there’s no secular counterweight to the self-serving official outlets… except for VFR). Far from being “out of the mainstream”, I’m very much “in it”. The official sources in the USA are crank and out-of-touch… they live in a cloud-cuckoo land of their own making, unlike Vsevolod Anatolyevich and Vlad Legoida, who have to stand and deliver when Pervy Kanal, NG, RIA, and VOR come calling.
VVP met the Vatopedi delegation at the airport. This showed that the trip had implicit state support. That’s what symphonia is all about… and reflect on the fact that Renovationists like Lyonyo, Jillions, Stokoe, JP, Hatfield, and Behr stand against it. They stand for the religious anarchy of the American Neoliberal “Religious Right”… they want to make common cause with the secular (GOP) and Sectarian (“Evangelical”/Pentecostalist/Mormon) enemies of Christ’s Church. Paffhausen and Potapov (and their running-dog-lackeys) support American political scum who attack pious Orthodox politicians like Prime Minister Putin. These cretins support Radical Right forces that wish to destabilise Russia and to export godless American Free Market consumerism to the Rodina. Think on that… there are people in our Church in the diaspora who wish ill on the Motherland and the Mother Church. Think on that seriously… don’t forget, Jillions has taken the Pope’s shilling and works enthusiastically for the Uniate enemies of Our Church.
You can have Vladimir Putin or you can Jonas Paffhausen… but you can’t have both. Wither thou goest?
BMD
PS:
If the Belt’s going to Vladivostok, that’d be ideal for Native folks from Alaska… check out your local sources… you’d know far better than I ever could. Just an idea, guys…
BMD
Voices from Russia 
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