The relics of St. Nicholas at Stavropol Diocese

Stavropol Krai • 1-29 June 2012

On 1 June, with the blessing of Eminent Kirill, Bishop of Stavropol and Nevinnomysk, the sacred particle of relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker who is one of the most revered Saint in Russia and all over the world arrived to the land of Stavropol.

The particle of the relicts was delivered to Stavropol by workers of the Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker Charitable Foundation in the framework of the all Russian charitable program.

Welcoming of the St. Nicholas’s relicts at Stavropol.

The reliquary with the sacred relics was met at the Stavropol airport by the Governor Valery Zerenkov, acting Head of Stavropol City Andrey Dzhatdoev, deputies of the regional Duma (Parliament), Cossacks and clergy of Stavropol and Nevinnomysk diocese.

The relicts at Savropol Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.

The representatives of the Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker Charitable Foundation passed the reliquary to the priests. After the service was hold everyone could kiss the relicts of the Saint. Then the reliquary was delivered to the Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God that became the most visited place of the region during the following 10 days. Every day from 8 a.m. till 8 p.m. the people of Stavropol went to the sacred relicts in an endless stream. The order and security were maintained by the police of Stavropol and the Cossacks: the sacred relicts were watched by them during the entire stay of the sacred relicts in the city.

Welcoming address by the Governor of Stavropol Krai Valery Zerenkov.

The relicts had been staying in the capital of Stavropol till 10 June, and then have been carried around the other churches of Stavropol and Nevinnomysk diocese. The people of Divnoye selo as well as Svetlograd, Mikhailovsk, Nevinnomysk, Georgievsk, Zelenokumsk and Budionovsk towns were able to venerate the sacred relicts.

Mikhail Ivanovich Chepel, Director General of the
Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker Charitable Foundation.

The last point of the reliquary journey around the Stavropol has been the Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh in Neftekumsk where the relicts of St. Nicholas will be till 29 June.

The orthodox residents of the region interpreted the arrival of the sacred relicts as an invaluable spiritual gift on the eve of the Most Holy Trinity.

The parishioners before the icon of St. Nicholas at the Kazan Cathedral of Stavropol City.

Missionary trips with a particle of St. Nicholas’s relics have been organized throughout Russia’s regions with the blessing of Athonite elders and hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church since 2009. The reliquary has already gone to Kamchatka, Sakhalin, on the Kuril and Commodore Islands, along the Northern Sea Route, rivers of Irtysh and Ob; it has been in the churches of Maikop and Adygei, Ekaterinodar and Kuban dioceses. The sacred relicts were delivered to Stavropol thanks to the pastoral care of parishioners by Bishop of Stavropol and Nevinnomysk Kirill, noted Mikhail Ivanovich Chepel, Director General of the Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker Charitable Foundation.

Kissing the relicts.