In the restored cathedral of the icon of the Mother of God 'Kazan' a cave temple was consecrated

In the capital of Tatarstan, the rite of consecration of the underground church located in the reconstructed cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was performed. Here, in the lower church, divine services will be performed, while work continues on the top to restore the grandiose construction of the once destroyed cathedral. 'Here is prayer, and there is a responsible work: the installation of the iconostasis, painting, artistic content,' - the ruling bishop, Metropolitan of Kazan and Tatarstan Theophanes explained to the correspondent of 'Kazan Reporter'.

On the day of the consecration of the lower church, the relics of the Monk Martyr, Grand Duchess Elizabeth, whose care in 1910 was founded this underground church, were brought from abroad to Kazan. It was built on the very spot where in 1579 one of the greatest Orthodox shrines in Russia appeared - the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. The temple itself at the beginning of the 20th century was consecrated in honor of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos.

The relics of the Monk Martyr Elizabeth and the nun Barbara, whose fate until the very last days was connected with the fate of the Grand Duchess, was brought to Kazan by Metropolitan Mark of Berlin. Addressing believers, Vladyka Mark noted that henceforth the shrine will remain here, in the church, created by the zeal of the great Russian ascetic and now consecrated again.

Recall that at the time of the beginning of excavations on the site of the destroyed cathedral, no one knew in what condition the church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos located on the lower tier was located. To the delight of believers, the degree of preservation of the temple turned out to be quite high: the walls and the lower part of the vaults turned out to be intact, which made it possible to begin its restoration soon.