The Cross of St Andrew the First Called to be brought to the Russian Orthodox Church
With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and by agreement with the Holy Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church, the Cross of St. Andrew the First Called will be brought to the Russian Orthodox Church to stay in her fold from July 11 to August 2, 2013. Timed to the 1025th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia, the bringing of the shrine to Russia, Ukraine and Belarus has been arranged by the St. Andrew the First Called Foundation with the support of the Apostoli charity of the Orthodox Church of Greece.
The Cross on which the apostle was crucified is kept in St. Andrew’s in Patras on Peloponnesus Peninsular, Greece. It is a shrine important for the whole Christendom.
Schedule of the movement of St. Andrew’s Cross:
July 11-15 – St. Petersburg
July 16-19 – Moscow Region
July 19-25 – Moscow
July 26-29 – Kiev
July 29-August 2 – Minsk
The bringing of St. Andrew’s Cross to the four cities is called to stress that the spiritual tradition of the Russian, Ukrainian and Byelorussian peoples goes back to the same source – the blessing given by St. Andrew during his missionary journey to Old Russia, and to Baptism embraced by the Old Russians in the Kievan font in 988.
DECR Communication Service