His Holiness Patriarch Alexy will take part in the Day of Peoples’ Unity celebration in Nizhniy Novgorod

His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia will take part in the Day of Peoples’ Unity celebration. The major events will be held in Nizhniy Novgorod where the home guards assembled in 1612 and marched to liberate Moscow from foreign invaders.

The major part of the celebration will be held on 3-4 November 2005. His Holiness Patriarch Alexy will visit the cathedral church of the Saviour and the Ascension monastery of the Caves.

On November 3, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church will celebrate the All-Night Vigil service in the Cathedral of the Holy and Right-Believing Prince Alexander Nevsky.

His Holiness Patriarch Alexy will preside at the ceremony of the laying the church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God and will consecrate the church of the Nativity of St.John the Baptist.

His Holiness will uncover the monument to citizen Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. This is a replica of the monument at the Red Square erected on the design of the sculptor I.Martos in the early 19^th century.

The feast day of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was established as a national holiday by the decree of Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich in 1649. Kuzma Minin who was called ‘a saviour of the Fatherland’ by Peter I was commemorated on May 8 (on Old calendar) in the early 20^th century.

Unfortunately, the tradition of celebrating the liberation of Moscow from the Polish-Lithuanian invaders on the commemoration day of Kuzma Minin was interrupted after the Revolution of 1917.

On 16 December 2004, State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted amendments to the federal law ‘On the Days of Military Glory (Victorious days of Russia)’, including the one on the introduction of a new national holiday – the Day of Peoples’ Unity.

An explanatory note to the draft law said: ‘The home guards led by Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky conquered Kitai-gorod on 4 November 1612 thus liberating Moscow from the Polish invaders and showing heroism and unity of all the people irrespective of their background, religious belief and status in society’.