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The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Aleksy II, on June 23 consecrated a copy of the Cross of St. Euprosyne of Polotsk.
The famous six-armed golden cross, which was presented by the Belarusian saint to Polotsk's Church of Holy Savior in 1161, tracelessly disappeared during World War II, was remade in 1997 by Brest-based craftsman Nikolai Kuzmich. The copy, richly decorated with enamels and precious stones, was transported from Polotsk to Brest on the occasion of the patriarch's visit.
Aleksy II sanctified with the cross all those who were present in the church and outside. Then the cross was publicly exhibited and everybody could come up and kiss it. On the first day of his stay in the Brest region, the patriarch also honored the memory of Archbishop of Brest and Kobrin Konstantin, who died in 2000. Aleksy II read a prayer at his grave in the church yard. The new head of the Brest and Kobrin Eparchy, the Rev. Sofrony, presented an icon to the patriarch.
During a dinner in honor of the patriarch, the Brest regional government presented Aleksy II with a pectoral cross, also made by Mr. Kuzmich.
On behalf of the Russian Orthodox Church, Aleksy II awarded the Reverend Sergy Radonezhsky Order to Valery Moroz, an officer of the Brest Department of Belarus' Committee for State Security (KGB), for coordinating the guarding of the Cross of St. Euphrosyne.
On the afternoon of June 23, Aleksy II visited the St. Nicholas Church and consecrated the church's recently built Sunday school.
The patriarch honored the memory of the Rev. Mikhail Satsyuk, the church's minister who was killed in 1998.
Source: BelaPan. Photo IREX/ProMedia |
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25 June 2001