The crown of thorns of Jesus Christ, a part of the Holy Life-giving Cross and a nail from it, kept in the sacristy of Notre-Dame Cathedral, did not suffer in the fire that broke out yesterday in the most magnificent Christian building in France. It was only this morning that the fire was contained; now it is extinguished, firefighters continue to strait the structures of the disfigured building, whose history goes back more than eight and a half centuries. The spire that towered over the building collapsed; the inside of the cathedral is very badly damaged. The aforementioned relics were removed from Constantinople by the crusaders after the fourth crusade. As great shrines, they are equally revered by both Eastern and Western Christians. 'We believe that what is happening is a tragedy. Tragedy not only for Catholics living in France and other countries, but also a tragedy for all those who value such architectural monuments, which is for the whole world Notre Dame Cathedral,' - said, responding to issue of the TV channel 'RenTV', Deputy Head of the Synodal Department for Church Relations with Society and Mass Media of the Russian Orthodox Church Vakhtang Kipshidze. It is interesting to note that a few days before the incident, sculptural images of four saints were dismantled from the roof of the cathedral for the first time in its history. apostles-evangelists. Recall that the fire in the Parisian cathedral of Notre Dame is the most destructive in its power, but far from the only one that affected Christian churches of various denominations and jurisdictions, which are represented in France. In 2017, the Armenian Evangelical Church in Alfortville was damaged by fire. Last year, ten incidents of burning Christian churches were recorded in the country.
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