Relics and Holy Objects
By the north wall of the church in the left side-chapel is a hinged icon with depictions of the Transfiguration of Christ, the martyr Pantaleon, and the emperor Saint Constantine. The icon was given to the regiment's field hospital in 1900 by the commander of the regiment at the time, the general-major Grand Duke Constantine Constantinovich. On a lectern (bookstand) in the right kliros of the church is an icon of the Image of Edessa, brought there in 1938 from the Trinity Church on Stremyannaya Street. It was painted by the famous Moscow icon-painter Simon Ushakov for Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and was the favorite icon of Peter the Great: it was with him at the founding of Saint Petersburg, at the Battle of Poltava, on his deathbed and at his funeral. On the lectern in the left kliros is another celebrated icon, that of the Mother Mary, Joy of All Sinners. It is a copy of a miracle-working icon from the Church of Christ's Transfiguration on Bolshaya Ordynka Street, made in 1711 by the order of the sister of Peter the Great, the tsarevna Natalya Alekseyevna to commemorate the saving of the Russian army during the Prutskiy campaign in the Russo-Turkish War of 1710-1711. It was brought to the Transfiguration Cathedral in 1932 from the closed Church of Christ's Resurrection on Shalyernaya Street.
In the cathedral are kept the regimental relics and war trophies, and on the walls are bronze plaques with the names of officers of the Preobrazhensky regiment fallen in battle. Under glass in separate cases are the Preobrazhensky uniforms of Alexander I, Nicholas I, and Alexander II, as well as a saber that Alexander II was wearing during an attempt on his life on March 13, 1881 (March 1, O.S.), which still has some of his blood on it.
Read more about this topic: Transfiguration Cathedral (Saint Petersburg)
Famous quotes containing the words relics, holy and/or objects:
“Is it not singular that, while the religious world is gradually picking to pieces its old testaments, here are some coming slowly after, on the seashore, picking up the durable relics of perhaps older books, and putting them together again?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Do you think you can be righteous and holy with impunity?”
—Jean Racine (1639–1699)
“Change begets change. Nothing propagates so fast. If a man habituated to a narrow circle of cares and pleasures, out of which he seldom travels, step beyond it, though for never so brief a space, his departure from the monotonous scene on which he has been an actor of importance would seem to be the signal for instant confusion.... The mine which Time has slowly dug beneath familiar objects is sprung in an instant; and what was rock before, becomes but sand and dust.”
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)