SARATOV , January 14 (RIA Novosti's Eric Batuyev) - Local History Museum experts of Saratov , provincial center on the Volga , recently came upon a unique reliquary considered lost for a long time. The Saratov diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church regained it today. A religious procession carried the shrine to the city's Trinity Cathedral.
The reliquary-a wooden board with niches carved in it-contains relics of 132 saints. Among them are the Evangelists Matthew, Mark and Luke, St. Andrew the Apostle, renowned theologians St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory of Nazianzus and St. John Chrysostom, and many Russian saints. The most prominent of these are St. Elias the Hermit of Murom ; Prince Vladimir of Kiev , Equal to the Apostles; Pious Prince Daniel of Moscow ; and St. Sergius of Radonezh. Novosti received the information from Archbishop Longin of Saratov and Volsk.
"Unknown vandals stripped off and destroyed precious silver casing of the reliquary in the 1930s. Much work is ahead to restore its original look. Today, the Lord has granted consolation to His flock by giving back what the pious have every right to possess," said the Archbishop.
Made early in the 18th century, the reliquary is closely connected with the name of Prince Sergei Golitsyn (1748-1810). The illustrious general was active in Field Marshal Suvorov's campaigns, and was awarded a great number of Russian and other countries' martial orders. He had the reliquary at a moveable chapel on his HQ.
Source: Novosti - Russian News and Information Agency
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