Sergiev Posad, June 23, 2024.
On July 22, 2024, on the eve of the Feast of the Holy Trinity (Pentecost), His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia presided over the meeting of the icon of the Holy and Life-Giving Trinity, painted by St. Andrew Rublev, in the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra and the All-Night Vigil in the Trinity Cathedral of the monastery, reports Patriarchia.ru.
Before the beginning of the All-Night Vigil, His Holiness, accompanied by His Eminence the Bishops and the brethren of the Lavra, led the procession to the Holy Gates, in front of which the icon of the Most Holy Trinity, painted by St. Andrew Rublev, which had been brought earlier, was installed in a special tent on Krasnogorsk Square.
Under the singing of the Magnification of the Feast of Pentecost, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill entered the tent, where he bowed down to the icon, after which the clergy lifted it on their shoulders. The procession with the icon proceeded to the Trinity Cathedral of the Lavra.
In the Trinity Cathedral the icon was installed in its historical place, to the right of the royal gates.
The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church laid his hands on the icon and the relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh, after which he addressed the audience with the Primacy Word:
"I cordially congratulate you on this great event. It is a happiness for all of us to participate in what is happening now: the icon of the Holy Trinity is returning to its home. When it was taken out of the Lavra, when the monastery was desecrated, those evil people probably could not have imagined that the time would come not only for the return of the holy icon to the place where it originally was, but also for the revival of faith in our people in general. And if there was no revival of faith, there would not have been this bringing of the icon of the Holy Trinity. For all this we should thank God, because before our eyes a great miracle of shaming the godless idea, which at one time seized the consciousness of the majority of our people, was realized. The idea of apostasy, which affected the souls and consciousness of people and turned them away from God. But now the return of the shrines testifies to profound changes in the life of our people - the revival of Orthodoxy in Holy Russia.
In honor of this event I bless to name this day the day of bringing the miracle-working image of the Holy Trinity to the Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra and to make annually polyelaic divine services.
Indeed, this event should not leave our memory, especially those who witnessed it, but should be imprinted in our church history. For all of us, it is another sign of God's presence in the life of our people, our country and each one of us.
Strengthened by these divine miracles, let us keep the Orthodox faith, educate our children and grandchildren in it, strengthen the foundations of personal, family, social and state life, which were created by our pious predecessors, the holy God-pleasers, our reverend and God-bearing fathers and holy wives. Let us hope that this event, which is undoubtedly a Divine will and a Divine miracle, will also strengthen faith in many and, perhaps, convert many to Christ. May God grant that it may be so, and that people may recognize these miracles as a sign of God presence in our lives.
I congratulate you all on this great historical spiritual event! With the return of the icon of the Holy Trinity to your home! Amen."
Then began the All-Night Vigil. His Holiness was served by: Metropolitan Pavel of Krutitsy and Kolomna, Patriarchal Vicar of the Moscow Metropolis; Metropolitan Grigory of Voskresensk, Administrator of the Moscow Patriarchate, First Vicar of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia for the city of Moscow, Vicar of the Novospassky Moscow Metropolitanate; Metropolitan Grigory of Voskresensk, Administrator of the Moscow Patriarchate, First Vicar of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia for the city of Moscow. Metropolitan Antony of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations; Metropolitan Nikandr of Naro-Fominsk, Chairman of the Financial and Economic Department of the Moscow Patriarchate; Metropolitan Feognost of Kashira, Chairman of the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism, Vicar of the Don Stavropegial Monastery; Metropolitan Sergius of Singapore and South-East Asia; Bishop Kirill of Sergiev Posad and Dmitrov, Vicar of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and Rector of the Moscow Theological Academy; Bishop Alexis of Ramenskoye, Personal Secretary of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill; Archimandrite Jeremiah (Solovyov), a resident of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra; Archimandrite Alipiy (Kastalsky-Borozdin), a resident of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra Archimandrite Zakharia (Shkurikhin), a resident of the Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra; residents of the monastery in the priesthood.
Bishop Stephen of Remezia, representative of the Patriarch of Serbia at the Moscow Patriarchal Throne, prayed in the altar.
The patriarchal service was attended by: Chairman of the State Duma Committee of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation on construction and housing and utilities S.A. Pakhomov; Deputy Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation S.G. Obryvalin; Head of the Sergiev Posad City District of the Moscow region M.Y. Tokarev; First Deputy Director General of JSC "Russian Railways" V.V. Mikhailov; Acting Director General of the Artistic and Production Enterprise of the Russian Orthodox Church "Sofrino" AV Potemkin.
The chants of the All-Night Vigil were performed by the choir of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra under the direction of Hieromonk Nestor (Volkov).
The service was broadcast live on the Soyuz and Spas TV channels, as well as on the official website of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarchy.ru.
At the end of the All-Night Vigil, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill delivered a sermon.
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The decision to return the icon "Trinity" by St. Andrew Rublev to its historical place in the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra was made by Russian President Vladimir Putin in May 2023.
"The Holy Trinity" icon was returned to its historical place in the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra. Putin in May 2023.
"Holy Trinity" was painted by the holy iconographer in the first half of the XV century for the local row of the iconostasis of the Trinity Cathedral at the request of the Venerable Nikon of Radonezh - the disciple and successor of the Venerable Sergius of Radonezh. The image became the ideal of artistic expression of the Christian dogma of the One and Triipostatic God. Back in 1551, at the Stoglav Council convened by Tsar Ivan the Terrible, the icon was recognized as a model for depicting the Holy Trinity.
After being in the Trinity Cathedral for half a millennium, in 1929, by order of the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR, the icon was transferred to the State Tretyakov Gallery. Being a masterpiece of Old Russian art, the "Holy Trinity" became one of the main exhibits of the museum. In the iconostasis of the temple was placed a copy created by the restorer Nikolai Baranov. Almost a hundred years later, on July 17 and 18, 2022, on the day of the memory of St. Andrei Rublev and on the feast of the 600th anniversary of the discovery of the relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh, Rublev's original was brought to the Trinity Cathedral for temporary worship. This was a landmark event in the life of the Lavra.
In the summer of 2023 Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra and the State Tretyakov Gallery concluded an agreement on the transfer of the icon "Holy Trinity" to the Lavra. Since January 5 this year the relic has been temporarily located in the Cathedral Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. Previously, since 1997, the faithful had the opportunity to worship the icon once a year on Holy Trinity Day in the Church of St. Nicholas in Tolmachy in Moscow.
The icon will now be available for public worship on a permanent basis: the Trinity Cathedral of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra is an active church, where daily services are held: a fraternal prayer service, Divine Liturgy, prayer services with akathist to the Mother of God and St. Sergius of Radonezh.
People who wish can also study the icon with the help of augmented reality: for this purpose RIA "Novosti" together with the monastery created an application "Sergiev Lavra. Guide" for IOS and Android. On June 19 ten stands with the image of the icon and a QR code leading to the page of the application, which allows to study the icon in details, were installed at the territory of the monastery. To do this you will have to to take a picture of the original, any list or reproduction of the shrine with the smartphone camera in the app. Those who are unable to photograph the icon can use a special two-dimensional mode of the application, which already presents its digital image with an interactive description.
The application will familiarize the user with the Old Testament story "The Hospitality of Abraham", reveals the symbolism of colors, the meaning of the composition and elements of the icon. The guide also contains a list of iconographic terms, fragments of the audio guide to the monastery and episodes of the joint art-historical podcast of RIA "Novosti" and the Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra "The Road to Lavra". Those who wish can hear chants of the Lavra choir in the application.
Expert support in the creation of the application was provided by the editor-in-chief of the publishing houses "Ladan" and "Trinity School" Hieromonk Nektariy (Sokolov) and the head of the Lavra icon painting workshop Hieromonk Nikifor (Isakov).
In Sergiev Posad the shrine was delivered on specialized transport, which is designed for professional transportation of works of art and is equipped with a climatic box with a shock absorption system. In the temple the relic is installed in a specially made stationary casket, which maintains the necessary climate for the preservation of the icon. The ciot is equipped with a system of automatic control and maintenance of temperature and humidity conditions, as well as armored glass covered with protective layers, including those against ultraviolet rays.
