Moscow, July 26, 2024
The return of St. Andrei Rublev’s Holy Trinity Icon to the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra. Photo: patriarchia.ru
The Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate established a new feast at its session yesterday in honor of the return of the famous Rublev Trinity Icon to its historical home at the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra.
The proposal was put forth by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, and with gratitude to God, the Synodal hierarchs resolved to establish a polyeleos-rank feast on June 9/22, reports Patriarchia.ru.
After 104 years, St. Andrei Rublev’s Holy Trinity Icon finally returned to its historical home at the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra for good.
The 15th-century icon initially found its home on the iconostasis of the Holy Trinity Cathedral at the Lavra, founded by St. Sergius of Radonezh in the 14th century. However, when the godless authorities came to power in Russia, they removed the icon from the monastery. In 1929, after nine years in a museum in Zagorsk (Sergiev Posad), it was transferred to the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, where it remained until last year, except for a few days in July 2022 when the icon was taken to the Lavra for the 600th anniversary of the uncovering of the relics of St. Sergius.
The Icon was delivered to Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow in time for Pentecost 2023, after which it underwent professional restoration. It was then returned to Christ the Savior in January of this year. And on Saturday evening, June 22, the Icon returned to the Lavra, in time for the feast of Pentecost.
The Synodal Liturgical Commission was instructed to submit the text of the new service for approval by the Holy Synod by December 31, to be celebrated for the first time in 2025.
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