Moscow, May 22, 2017
Photo: ria.ru Tens of thousands of Orthodox faithful are already standing in line, waiting to venerate the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker that are being kept in Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral until July 12, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill said today. The primate took note of the great fervency during a meeting with the representatives of the Catholic church who helped arrange the visit of the relics, RIA-Novosti reports.
“As we sit here, tens of thousands of people are already standing in line to venerate these relics,” the patriarch said at his early-afternoon meeting with Archbishop Francesco Cacucci of Bari, who signed the agreement for transferring the relics, and other representatives of the Papal church and of the Russian Church.
This is a unique event, as previously reported, in that for the 930 years that his relics have been kept at the Catholic basilica in Bari, Italy, they have never left the city. Every year, hundreds of Russian pilgrims and Orthodox believers from around the world travel to Bari to venerate the honorable relics of the great bishop and wonderworking saint. Now Russians have the first opportunity to venerate a piece of the Bari relics in their own country.
The relics were initially planned to be available for veneration today beginning from 2:00 PM. By 1:30 the line of pious faithful already stretched for nearly a mile. The cathedral was ready early, and they began to let people in ahead of schedule to venerate the rib of St. Nicholas that had been delivered to the cathedral the night before, during the Vigil in honor of St. Nicholas. Several thousands of clergy and faithful were present to greet the relics on Sunday evening.
In all, more than 10,000 volunteers are involved in working with the pilgrims during the times of veneration. “Their task is to meet the pilgrims coming from various regions, keep order in the line, and to help the elderly, disabled citizens, and pilgrims with young children,” the Church’s press service told a correspondent of RIA-Novosti. There are about 200 volunteers just within the cathedral and in its immediate vicinity.
