Moscow, June 7, 2018
Photo: spzh.news Plans are underway to erect a new monument to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the Barents Sea, on Salny Island in the far north Murmansk Province.
St. Nicholas is the patron saint of the navy and all sailors, and his statue will serve as a visible landmark, guiding ships to sea and back to shore.
Plans were discussed when His Holiness Patriarch Kirill met with Murmansk Province Governor Marina Kovtun, His Grace Bishop Mitrophan of Severomorsk and Umbsk, and Northern Fleet commander Admiral Nikolai Evmenov at the patriarchal residence in Moscow’s Danilovsky Monastery on Tuesday, reports the site of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Evmenov, who initiated the project, presented Pat. Kirill a sketch of the layout of the monument, which is to be installed at the highest point on Salny Island in Kola Bay. The monument will be installed from the side of the Barents Sea, near the entrance to the Northern Fleet’s main base at Severomorsk.
Photo: tvzvezda.ru The Northern Fleet held a reconnaissance mission to the site of the future monument back in August. Admiral Evmenov was accompanied by several of his men, and Schema-Archimandrite Iliy from the local Orthodox church on the island, reports tvzvezda.ru.
Fr. Iliy read a prayer at the site of the future monument, and blessed all the sailors for their God-pleasing work of protecting their homeland.
The figure of the saint will accompany sailors going out on expeditions, and will welcome those coming back from sea. It will be visible from all vessels heading to Severomorsk and Murmansk, and also all heading to the Barents Sea from Kola Bay.
“During the polar days, and with illumination during the polar nights, the monument will indicate the path to the ocean, and to native shores,” Evmenov noted.
His Holiness approved of the sketch and design of the monument.
Admiral Evmenov also noted that the Church of St. Nicholas in the Northern Fleet headquarters was consecrated on February 25.
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