The Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Blessed Virgin

The Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Blessed Virgin was the first cathedral restored in post-Soviet times. It was built in the second quarter of the 17th century in the name of the Kazanskaya Blessed Virgin Icon as a symbol of gratitude for the deliverance of Russia from the Polish and Lithuanian army in 1612, and in memory of dead Russian soldiers.

Turn your attention to this splendid cathedral on the right. It was restored in the early 1990s. It was initially built in the name of the Kazanskaya Blessed Virgin icon, one of the most respected icons in Moscow. It was found in Kazan on 8 July, 1579: legend says that a nine-year-old girl, Matrona, dreamed of the Blessed Virgin three times, and Our Lady showed her the place under the ruins of a house where her miracle-working sacred image was hidden. The girl told everything about her dreams to the local priest, and the icon really was found in the place shown to her.

In the mid-17th century, archpriest Ivan Neronov, and later archpriest Avvakum served here. Those priests were adherents of piety and did not accept the Church reforms carried out by patriarch Nikon that initiated the split of the Russian Orthodox Church into Nikon followers and Old Believers.

On the severe autumn days of 1812, a service was celebrated for the Kazanskaya icon praying for the rescue of the Motherland; the service was attended by M.I.Kutuzov.

The cathedral was pulled down in the summer of 1936, and the restoration process began only in 1990 after a decision by the Moscow government. Patriarch Alexy II laid the foundation of the cathedral, and in three years he consecrated the newly-built church.



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