St. Petersburg, Russia, March 18, 2021
Photo: mitropolia.spb.ru
The rectification of an historical injustice is underway as the only altar of the St. Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg named for its patron saint has finally been returned to the Church.
The Divine Liturgy will be celebrated there on the feast of the Annunciation on April 7, marking the first service celebrated on this altar in 88 years.
The Church of St. Alexander Nevsky is located on the upper floor of the Holy Annunciation Church. The feast of the Annunciation is also the day of the foundation of the monastery, and this year marks the 800th anniversary of the birth of St. Alexander, Abbot Bishop Nazary of Kronstadt noted in his statement about the return of the church and upcoming feast, reports the Lavra press service.
The City Committee for Property Relations published its decree on Tuesday, transferring the St. Alexander Nevsky Church to the free use of the St. Petersburg Diocese. The Museum of Urban Sculpture that was previously housed there will be moved to other premises.
The church today. Photo: mitropolia.spb.ru
The monastery has been raising the question of the return of all the premises to the jurisdiction of the monastery since its reopening in 1996, including the Holy Annunciation-St. Alexander Nevsky Church.
The upper Church of St. Alexander Nevsky was consecrated on September 12, 1724, the day that the relics of the great saint were solemnly transferred to the Lavra from Vladimir by decree of Tsar Peter I. His relics were located in this church until the construction of the Holy Trinity Cathedral in 1790.
Even after the monastery was closed in 1933, a parish continued to exist in the Annunciation Church for a time, though it was closed later that year and later converted into the Museum of Urban Sculpture.
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