Interior Minister Nurgaliev hands over to Patriarch the famous copy of the Kursk Icon of Our Lady the Sign
21.06.2006 · Архив 2005-2009, События
On June 21, 2006, Gen. Rashid Nurgaliev, Russian Interior Minister, handed over to His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, the copy of the Kursk Icon of Our Lady the Sign, which had been stolen from the Kursk cathedral and recovered later by the law-enforcement.
Patriarch Alexy presented the icon to Archbishop German of Kursk and Rylsk, noting that the shrine was returned on the eve of the Day of the Kursk Icon of Our Lady. People in Kursk will be able to venerate it already tomorrow and hold their traditional procession with this icon on June 23.
His Holiness the Patriarch and Minister Nurgaliev thanked Deputy Interior Minister Andrey Novikov who led the search for the stolen icon.
On that night of May 1, five icons were stolen from the Kursk Cathedral of Our Lady the Sign, including the venerated copy of the Kursk Icon of Our Lady the Sign, the main shrine in the Kursk region. The crime provoked a major public resonance.
A criminal case was opened. In an operative search, law-enforcers discovered that the stolen icon was sold to pawnshop in Moscow. During the search in it, its director delivered it voluntarily, explaining that he had bought it from an anonymous person for 1700 US dollars. The culprit was detained in the Moscow region early in June.