On National Unity Day, celebrated on November 4, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’ presented in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin an original 16th-century icon of the Kazan Mother of God, which was considered lost more than 100 years ago.
“The examination concluded that this image belongs to the very era in which the miraculous image was created,” announced the head of the Russian Orthodox Church before the start of the liturgy, adding that we are talking about the miraculous image in front of which Minin and Pozharsky prayed.
Patriarch Kirill called the discovery of the original icon a “historical event,” TASS reports. “I didn’t immediately decide to talk about all this in church, but then I realized that it was impossible to hide this story, our people and the whole world should know about it,” he explained.
The Patriarch also expressed the hope that “the shrine will preserve our people in our difficult times and will protect our Fatherland from enemies, both external and internal.”
The Kazan Icon of the Mother of God is one of the main Russian shrines. The exact origin of the image is unknown. There is an assumption that she appeared in Kazan in 1579, during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. After a big fire in Kazan, the image was lost.
Let us note that Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’, by decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was awarded the Head of State Prize for his contribution to strengthening the unity of the Russian nation.
Source: Rosbalt
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