17th-Century Icon hidden during Communist persecutions found and restored to its place over the Spassky Tower Gates

Today I went to see this with some of my friends from the “Moo-Moo Cafe” crowd, who told me about it.  You can’t get too close to it right now, but in September there will be a big Spassky Tower celebration and after that we’ll be able to get close and take better pictures.  (Click on the picture to see a full-size view of the icon.)

The icon, from the 17th century, was plastered over during the atheist yoke in order to hide and save it, and now it has been found and restored to its former position over the Spassky (Saviour) Tower gates.  Слава Богу!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday on the Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God His Holiness Patriarch Kirill blessed the icon in a solemn ceremony, in spite of a downpour of rain.  It has rained here literally every day since the heat-wave broke on Transfiguration—God’s blessing to put out the horrible fires.

   The Spassky Tower is right on Krasnaya Ploschad’ (Beautiful/Red Square), next to St. Basil’s Cathedral.

 

 

St. Basil’s (or the Cathedral of the Holy Protection of the Mother of God, “on the Moat,” is much more beautiful “in person” than in photographs: in order to take a photo of the whole cathedral, the cathedral has to appear very small, but in real life the human eye can see the whole, huge, majestic structure towering above…  (Click on the picture to get a better feeling of size….)

On the way there, as we were walking down Ilyinka Street "(Prophet Iliya Street—there is an icon of Prophet Iliya right on the wall of a courthouse as you pass by) I saw a very large flower bed formed in the shape of a cross.  My acquaintances told me that it commemorates a church, destroyed in the ‘30’s, that had stood on that spot. 

Glory to God for His mercy!

 

 

 

http://www.rian.ru/religion/20100828/269829454.html

Bad English machine translation:

http://tinyurl.com/Spassky-Tower-Icon-restored

A beautiful custom at Confession

They have a beautiful custom here in Russia (perhaps they have it in some parishes in the US?): After you have confessed your sins and the priest has read the Prayer of Absolution, you hand the piece of paper on which your sins were written to the priest, and he tears the paper up and hands it back to you.

The first time I saw this--at Sretensky Monastery (Monastery of the Meeting) I was quite amazed.  I thought it was maybe a custom of just that priest or just that monastery.  Then, last night, at St. Nicholas Church on Maroseika Street, when I finally got near the front of the confession line about 45 minutes after Vigil was over, after standing in line the whole vigil (!), I saw the lady in front of me who was confessing hand her scrap of paper to one of the priests, who tore it up and gave it back to her.  "So they do it here, too," I thought.  When my turn came and I had finished confessing, I shoved my notes back in my pocket out of habit, then remembered what the lady had done and quickly decided to take them back out and do the same.  The priest took my paper likewise, tore it up, and gave it back to me and blessed me—“Mir Vam!”  “Peace be unto you!”  I looked at the torn shreds in my hand... what a powerful feeling!  Yes, a feeling of great peace…  I remembered hearing the expression somewhere in the services:

Akathist Hymn to the Mother of God, Kontakion 12: When the Absolver of all mankind desired to blot out ancient debts, of His Own will He came to dwell among those who had fallen from His Grace; and having torn up the handwriting of their sins, He heareth this from all: Alleluia!

From the Molieben: O God, the Lord of hosts, and Author of all creation, who in Thine ineffable tender mercy hast sent down Thine Only-begotten Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, for the salvation of our kind, and through His Holy Cross hast torn up the handwriting of our sins and thereby triumphed over the princes and dominions of darkness: do Thou, O Master, who lovest mankind, accept these prayers of thanksgiving and supplication even from us sinners, and deliver us from every deadly and dark transgression and from all the visible and invisible enemies that seek to do us harm. Nail our flesh with the fear of Thee, and let not our hearts incline to evil words or thoughts, but wound our souls with Thy love, that ever gazing upon Thee, guided by Thy light and beholding Thee, the eternal Light that no man can approach, we may send up unceasing praises and thanks unto Thee, the Father without beginning, together with Thine Only-begotten Son and Thy most holy, good, and life-giving Spirit, now, and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen.

(Exact quotes with the help of a search engine, not my memory ;)

Sunday of Orthodoxy, March 2009

Testing 123

This is a test for Blogger

This is a family of folk-singers.

 

 

 

This is great!

Another picture: