Topic of the day

Some 500,000 pilgrims bow to St. Nicholas remains as 3 km line forms outside the Moscow cathedral

Moscow, June 8, Interfax - Already half a million people have bowed to the relics of St. Nicholas in the two weeks since they were brought to the Russian capital.

"To date, the number of pilgrims has reached half a million people. The line is on average three kilometers long," Patriarch Kirill's spokesman Alexander Volkov told Interfax-Religion on Thursday.

Among the pilgrims who came to venerate the saint these days was Russian President Vladimir Putin.

According to the statistics unveiled by the organizers of the bringing of the relics to Russia, between 18,000 and 48,000 people come each day to bow to the relics of St. Nicholas at the Christ the Savior Cathedral. The average time of standing in the line is about nine hours.

The shrine will be on display at the Moscow church until July 12 and will be in St. Petersburg on July 13-28.

On May 21 the relics of St. Nicholas arrived to Russia from a papal basilica in Bari for the first time in history. The relics had never left the city in all of the 930 years they remained in Bari. That the relics were brought here became possible thanks to agreement reached between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill after their meeting in Havana in February last year.

Photo by the press service of Patriarch Kirill

Print this page

Home

• Some 500,000 pilgrims bow to St. Nicholas remains as 3 km line forms outside the Moscow cathedral 08 June 2017, 19:10
• Russian Orthodox Church's relations with Catholics intensify after meeting with Pope - Patriarch Kirill 08 June 2017, 18:54
• Almost three-fourths of Russians would like to bow to relics of Nicholas the Wonderworker brought to Moscow - poll 29 May 2017, 10:18
• Putin kisses relics of St. Nicholas Miracle-Maker 24 May 2017, 22:55
• Putin expresses gratitude to pope for permission to bring St. Nicholas' relics to Russia 24 May 2017, 22:51
• Patriarch Kirill sends early icon of Saint Nicholas to Pope Francis 23 May 2017, 15:19
• Patriarch Kirill believes Christians of different confessions will unite in one Church again 22 May 2017, 11:08
• Patriarch Kirill calls St. Nicholas the Wonderworker saint number one for Russia 22 May 2017, 11:03
• Thousands believers met St. Nicholas relics in the Cathedral pf Christ the Savior 22 May 2017, 10:44
• Holy relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker brought from Italy expected to be placed in Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Pete 16 May 2017, 10:01
• St. Nicholas relics to be brought to Russia from Italy for first time in 930 years on May 21-28 28 April 2017, 13:01
• The Russian Church and the Catholic Church should stop confrontation between East and West - patriarch at the meeting with the Italian president 13 April 2017, 10:43
• Russian Church will include some more western saints in its calendar 27 March 2017, 12:26
• Orthodox believers will celebrate St. Patrick's Day in downtown Moscow 27 March 2017, 10:57
• Origins of West's hatred of Russia lie in split of Christianity - Zyuganov 27 March 2017, 10:00
• Inclusion of western saints' names on Moscow Patriarchate calendar aims to remind of times of undivided Church - Russian Orthodox Church 13 March 2017, 10:09
• Hungary allotted about €134,000 for restoring three Russian churches and building a new one 10 March 2017, 13:18
• Russian Orthodox Church to celebrate St. Patrick's Day - Synod's decision 10 March 2017, 12:08
• Former apostolic nuncio to Russia who made a breakthrough in Orthodox-Catholic dialogue transferred to Vatican 23 January 2017, 10:09
• Patriarch Kirill offers his Christmas greetings to the Pope of Rome 26 December 2016, 17:56
• Patriarch Kirill congratulates Pope on 80th birthday, notes his high global standing 19 December 2016, 11:05
• Putin greets Pope by phone on his 80th birthday 19 December 2016, 10:03
• Choirs of Russian Church and Vatican give joint concert in Rome 12 December 2016, 18:49
• Patriarch Kirill congratulates the pontiff on his 80th birthday with an icon of St. Seraphim of Sarov 12 December 2016, 15:31
• Patriarch Kirill ready to work with Vatican on peace in Syria 22 November 2016, 18:50

Other news