On Wednesday, December 10, 2014, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon and the delegation of the Orthodox Church in America that visited the Russian Orthodox Church at the invitation of His Holiness, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’, returned to New York. They had spent their final days abroad in Saint Petersburg, where they were warmly welcomed by His Eminence, Metropolitan Varsonofy of Saint Petersburg and Ladoga, at the city’s historic Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God [“Kazansky” Cathedral]. Metropolitan Tikhon presented an icon and relics of Saint Innocent to Metropolitan Varsonofy. Many clerics from throughout the Saint Petersburg Diocese were in attendance, as were His Eminence, Archbishop Dmitri of Vitebsk; His Grace, Bishop Kliment of Mordovia, and His Grace, Bishop Nazari of Kronstadt; Alexander Nikolaivich Govoronoff, Head of the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Smolny Governorship; and others.
Closed during the Soviet era, the Kazansky Cathedral was used as a Museum of Atheism. In 2001, it was returned to the Church. Architecturally, it is well known for its close resemblance to Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, after which it was modeled. Its outdoor colonnade and statuary are immediately recognizable for their striking similarity to that gracing Rome’s Saint Peter’s Square. Restoration of the church, initiated in 2006, is still in progress.
While in Saint Petersburg, Metropolitan Tikhon and the members of the OCA delegation were received and prayed at the Novodevichy Monastery; the Lavra of Saint Alexander Nevsky and its monumental Holy Trinity Cathedral; the Saint John of Rila Women’s Monastery, site of the grave of Saint John of Kronstadt; and the Chapel marking the grave of the Blessed Xenia of Saint Petersburg in the city’s Smolensk Cemetery. During the Soviet era, the chapel had been surrounded by a tall wooden barrier to prevent the faithful from entering therein and had been slated for destruction during the 1980s. After the fall of communism, the barrier was removed, providing access to the chapel. In the same cemetery, they visited the original burial grave of the renown Ukrainian poet, Taras Shevchenko. In accordance with his wishes, expressed in his poem Zapovit [Testament], Shevchenko’s remains were later reinterred on Chernecha Hill [today Taras Hill] in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, where they remain to this day. They also visited the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in the city’s Fortress, wherein many members of the Imperial Family are interred. The church, the first built by Peter the Great in the city, reflects his passion for western architectural forms and style—interior as well as exterior—and reflects his calculated and striking departure from earlier ecclesiastical design.
In the nearby city of Kronstadt, Metropolitan Tikhon and the delegation were received at the Saint Nicholas Naval Cathedral and visited the apartment of Saint John of Kronstadt. The cathedral, modeled after Constantinople’s Hagia Sophia, was rebuilt after the fall of communism and stands as a prime example of the “Neo-Byzantine” movement that emerged in the late 19th century.
“We have much to learn from the Russian Church’s past, her suffering, struggles and rebuilding,” Archpriest John Jillions, OCA Chancellor, reflected upon the delegation’s return. “It is also a colossal Church on a scale difficult for us to imagine—just in terms of clergy, the Russian Orthodox Church has a staggering 37,000 bishops, priests and deacons! But we have our own path and struggles, and by the grace of God I think we can be proud of how our Church was represented!”
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