When will the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker be brought?
The relics of St. Nicholas will remain in Russia from May 21 to July 28, 2022, during which time they can be venerated in one of two cities:
From May 22 to July 12 in Moscow, in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
From July 13 to July 28 in St. Petersburg.
The bringing of the relics of St. Nicholas is a unique event. It should be noted that they did not leave Italy for almost a thousand years. The fact that they will finally be brought to Russia was the result of a personal agreement between Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis. Therefore, you should prepare in advance for the fact that there will be a lot of people who want to come to the relics.
Holy relics
Matronushka, blessed Matrona, Saint Matrona of Moscow - all these are the names of one saint, revered by the entire Orthodox Church, beloved and dear to Orthodox Christians around the world. The saint was born in the 19th century and died in 1952. There are many witnesses to her holiness who saw Matronushka during her lifetime. Even monks from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra came to her for spiritual advice and consolation.
She was born completely blind, her parents even wanted to leave her in an orphanage, but in a dream her mother saw a blind white bird landing on her chest and decided that this was a sign from the Lord. From early childhood she spent a lot of time in church, at services and in her free time, and already in her youth she discovered the gift of insight. The Lord revealed to her the past, future and present - so, one night she suddenly spoke about the death of the priest who baptized her, who lived in a neighboring village and actually died at that time.
The fame of the little saint spread throughout many provinces of Russia, many people came to see her, but there were also envious people: at the age of 17, her legs suddenly became paralyzed. As Matronushka said, the Lord allowed this to happen because of the malice of one woman. However, the saint, as if in return from the Lord, received the gift of healing.
After the revolution, the saint and her friend went to Moscow, where she wandered for many years, living with good people, hiding from the persecutors of Orthodoxy and accepting everyone who asked for her help. Every day about 40 people came to her for help, she spent the night in prayer, dozing only occasionally. With humility, she bore the heavy cross of bodily infirmities and did not grumble, but accepted God’s will for herself. She received many, helped everyone with prophetic advice, and at night she prayed for everyone. She died in 1952.
By traditional standards, Saint Matrona of Moscow was canonized soon after her death - in 1999. The veneration of Saint Matrona blessed the Church. With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II, on March 8, 1998, her holy relics were found, which are located in the Intercession Monastery in Moscow and to which people queue every day, knowing about the miracles from the shrine. Matronushka was canonized as a saint.
Matronushka still helps those who pray today; there are many testimonies about miracles after prayers in front of her icons and relics in the Matrona Church on Taganka and about the appearances of blessed Matrona in dreams to believers.
The days of celebrating the memory of the Holy Blessed Matrona are the days when prayers to her are especially solemnly read during the Liturgy, prayers are sung with an akathist:
- May 2 – day of repose to the Lord (death);
- March 8 in a normal year and March 7 in a leap year is the day of the discovery of the relics;
- the last Sunday before September 8 - in the Cathedral of Moscow Saints.
Blessed Matrona, indeed, helped and helps in any sorrows and needs. Today they pray to her for a variety of troubles:
- In difficulties with housing,
- Difficulties with money
- In mental heaviness, depression, grief,
- In case of family quarrels, separations, family breakdown,
- In case of job loss, difficulties in finding employment and quarrels in the team,
- In illness, severe illness or injury,
- About the health and good upbringing of children.
You can pray for help to Matrona of Moscow:
- at her relics in the Pokrovsky Monastery at the Intercession Gate in Moscow,
- at Danilov Cemetery in Moscow, where she was originally buried,
- in any church in your city near her icon - perhaps a particle of the blessed relics will be embedded in the image,
- at home in front of the icon of Matronushka or even without it, standing at the icons of the Savior and the Mother of God.
It is known that there are reference sites about Saint Matrona, but the notes and comments on the Internet are not true letters from the saint. A visit to the monastery temple, where the relics of Matrona reside, will become your pilgrimage, a small labor as a sign of your desire to be heard.
The relics of the saint are located in the Pokrovsky Monastery at the Pokrovskaya (Abelmanovskaya) outpost in Moscow. This place is also known as the temple or monastery of the Matrona of Moscow on Taganka. You can get to the monastery by ground transport or by metro.
There is a tradition of going to Matronushka for help with flowers - a living offering to her, evidence of the sincerity of your prayer and love for the saint. You will definitely feel that Matrona of Moscow becomes like family to you, as for many people - that’s why she is affectionately called Matronushka. In the Pokrovsky Monastery there are always many bouquets of fresh flowers around the shrine (tomb) with the holy relics of the blessed one. Often priests give their blessing to take flowers laid by other people who are seriously suffering and ill as a gift from the Matrona of Moscow herself.
- If possible, purchase an odd number of roses - the saint loved them during her lifetime - place them near the image or at the relics.
- Buy church candles and before the image of the blessed one in the temple, read the prayer according to the text below. Talk to her as if she were alive - that’s what she asked herself.
- Before or after prayer, light a candle from other candles in a candlestick, place it, cross yourself twice, bow and kiss the image of the saint on the hand or hem of the robe, cross yourself again and bow.
- You can purchase in the church an icon of Matronushka for home prayer and church candles, which you will light during prayer at home. Matronushka herself advised people to come to her and talk, asking for help. That is, you can ask the saint for help in your own words, at any time.
- Another tradition is to write notes to the saint. They are placed at the relics or in any temple behind the icon of the blessed one.
- Write from the heart, write to Saint Matrona as to your grandmother or mother - as if she were alive, because in Heaven she hears each of us.
To come means not only to visit the relics of Matrona, but also to mentally come to her with prayer. However, in the prayers compiled and blessed by the Church there is a completeness of requests - you can forget about some other needs, and the prayer also contains requests that you have not even thought about. Therefore, it is worth reading church prayers to Matrona
May the Lord protect you with the prayers of all saints!
Relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Moscow 2022
Cathedral of Christ the Savior. Photo by Sergei Milov/Foma Magazine
An operational headquarters has been created in the city especially for such a big event, which has already published its recommendations on how best to act if you want to make a pilgrimage to the relics of St. Nicholas.
Thus, on May 22, the shrine will be available for worship only in the afternoon from 14.00 to 21.00. Therefore, the organizers urge you not to plan your visit on this day - you may not make it in time. In the future, from May 23 to July 12, access to the relics of St. Nicholas will be open from 8.00 to 21.00 there is no point in standing in line - you will not have time before the temple closes.
To take a place in the queue, go to the Park Kultury and walk to Prechistenskaya Embankment .
In general, the shrine will stay in Moscow for 52 days, so don’t worry - there should be enough time for everyone to worship it.
How to get to the Temple of Spyridon in Moscow
All of you can now imagine what kind of miracle this saint is, and that he helps everyone who asks him, without sparing his shoes he walks around the world. In this instruction, I will show you the easiest way to get to him and pray, and even ask the icon with his piece for the most cherished thing.
We will get there by metro, but if you have a car and can get there from another city, then you can easily use the navigator, the address will be below. The Temple of Spiridon itself is located in the center of Moscow, the closest way to it is from the Okhotny Ryad station, this is the red line.
If you are coming from the bottom (south), then at the Okhotny Ryad station you need to get out of the car and turn left, the signs will be towards Red Square, if from the north, then to the right after exiting the car. Take the medium sized escalators. Next, exit the metro doors and turn right. Get to the end and turn right again and go up the stairs.
You go out onto one of the main streets of Moscow, Tverskaya Street. You need to walk forward a couple of hundred meters . By the way, the Kremlin will be behind you :)
The relics of Spyridon Trimifuntsky in Moscow Tverskaya Street itself is entirely historical buildings, in each of which someone necessarily lived. I will not talk about everything, since this is not the topic of this article, I will only mention those that I meet along the way.
The first one will be the Yermolova Theater, if you saw it, go right.
road to the Relics of Spyridon Trimifuntsky in Moscow
Next you will see a beautiful building in which a lot of famous poets and scientists lived, there is also a McDonald's in it, I say this if you suddenly feel the urge due to human need, we are all people, and there you can do it for free and in comfortable conditions, I don’t know that everyone scolds them, but there is a positive side here.
road to the Relics of Spyridon Trimifuntsky in Moscow
We continue to move forward, then there will be a lot of memorial plaques with famous people who lived on Tverskaya, you can highlight this entrance.
But the benches look so funny, be careful sitting on them in winter, you never know.
as a result, you should soon reach a giant arch, it will be on our left hand. You will see a sign for Bryusov Lane . Not named after Bruce Willis :).
We turn into it, that is, left.
And so we all got to Bryusov Lane, here is the temple with the relics of Spyridon of Trimifuntsky in Moscow. Bryusov Lane itself also consists of houses where a lot of famous people lived; you can find a lot of memorial plaques. Let's go forward, and you are almost visiting St. Spyridon.
Temple of Spyridon in Moscow
We’re getting even closer, unfortunately, I was here in the winter, it’s a little gloomy in Moscow, but in the spring I think it will be awesome here, I’ll definitely take you there with me in the spring.
Temple of Spyridon in Moscow
Next to the temple there will be a children's park, there will be such a wonderful monument in it, look for yourself.
The Temple of Spyridon itself has a more or less common form for Moscow.
Relics of Spyridon Trimifuntsky in Moscow
We go into the main entrance of the church.
Temple of Spyridon in Moscow
Address of the Temple of Spyridon in Moscow
And so here is the actual address of the Church of the Resurrection on the Assumption Enemy
Bryusov lane house 15/2 BUILDING 3
Temple of Spyridon in Moscow
And here is the date of foundation of the Church of the Resurrection on the Assumption Enemy. As you can see, it was built already in 1629, it will soon be 400 years old, it’s simply unthinkable.
Church of the Resurrection on the Assumption Enemy Walk forward into the depths of the temple. This is what the iconostasis looks like. I would like to note right away that I took all the photographs solely for the purpose of introducing you to the temple and maybe someone will find the photograph of the icon of Spyridon useful; not everyone has the opportunity to come. On the left there is a very powerful icon of the Mother of God, from whom many ask for their secret.
Here on the right are two icons, the one on the right with Christ, and on the left with a piece of the relics of Spyridon of Trimythous.
Temple of Spyridon in Moscow
There is a piece, right here
Temple of Spyridon in Moscow
Where are the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker usually located?
For almost a thousand years, the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker have been kept in the city of Bari in the very south of Italy. They were transferred there from the city of Myra, where during his earthly life the saint served as a bishop. Today this city is called Demre and is located in Turkey. In 1087, Italian merchants stole the relics from there in order to transport them to their homeland in Bari. “Foma” has already talked about this adventurous story in his articles.
The Catholic Basilica of St. Nicholas in the city of Bari currently houses most of the saint’s relics, and pilgrims can venerate them here. Orthodox services are regularly held near the relics and even the Liturgy is celebrated.
The other part of the relics is kept at the opposite end of Italy - in Venice, or rather on the island of Lido, in a Catholic church, which is also dedicated to St. Nicholas.
Small particles of the saint's relics are scattered all over the world.
Not all the relics from Bari will be brought to Russia, but only the rib of the saint.
Who does the great saint help?
*
For travelers.
Nicholas the Wonderworker is considered the patron saint of sailors, who provide much evidence of the saint’s intercession. Travelers on land also ask Nicholas for help. Before a long journey or just leaving home, say a short prayer for a successful journey and return back.
* Those wishing to get married.
A story from the life of the saint is often cited as an example. The poor man, not having the means to pay a dowry for his three daughters, decided to sell them to a brothel. Having learned about this, Bishop Nicholas secretly gave him his savings. They did not immediately learn about the selfless act, but in memory of this, the girls even today ask the saint for protection and help in starting a family.
*Prisoners and unjustly convicted.
Another incident from the life of the saint is depicted in
Ilya Repin’s
“Nicholas of Myra delivers three innocently condemned people from death.” The miracle worker suddenly appeared in the square near the place of execution and grabbed the hand of the executioner, who was raising the sword over the heads of the unfortunate people. He knew about the innocence of the convicts and stood up for them.
* To non-believers. Alexander Vertinsky
recalled a case in which in the 1920s in the Chinese city of Harbin, a fisherman fell through the ice and almost drowned. At the last moment, he remembered the icon that Russian emigrants had hung at the city station. “Old man of the station, save me!” - he begged and lost consciousness. I woke up already on the shore. Soon he converted to Orthodoxy. Others followed.
St. Nicholas the Wonderworker is prayed for help in overcoming life's trials
