St. Nicholas' Day!!!
A joyous, wonderful, and peaceful St. Nicholas' Day to all of you! It's always wonderful when his feast rolls around. It happens twice each year by God's mercy, but this is the more remembered one by far methinks.
Today's St. Nicholas' Day, but yesterday (still today for me, though it is after midnight here) I went to Sergiev Posad to venerate the relics of St. Sergey of Radonezh, one of the most famous Russian Orthodox monks in history and founder of one of the four monastic lavras of Rus' (the others being the lavras of Pochaev and the Kiev Caves in the Ukraine and of St. Alexander of the Neva in St. Petersburg).
I started out the morning far too early for someone who went to bed at 2am, but with some help (many thanks for that!) I got up a little after 7am and was able to leave with Igor when he went to work after 8am. From Khimki (on the northwestern edge of Moscow, where Igor's apartment is) I went to Danilovskiy Monastery in the south of Moscow. Danilovskiy is the oldest monastery (or so I've read) in Moscow and is home not only to the relics of Sts. Daniel and George of Danilov, but also to the Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church. It was a good place to visit. The older cathedral is beautiful, and this morning was incredibly sunny (GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST!!!), so it was nigh unto perfect.
I left Danilov sometime between 10 and 11am to go Yaroslavskiy Vokzal to catch my train to Sergiev Posad, which I managed to do after quite a bit of confusion. Thank God I was able to nap a little on the way up, and I spent about 2 hours at the Lavra, mostly in Holy Trinity Cathedral where St. Sergey's relics are kept. The Lavra is quite impressive and although most of the churches are of a post-Peter I 'ugly Western architecture in Russia' look, the older two (Holy Trinity, which resembled the cathedrals in Vladimir, and Holy Dormition, which reminded me of Holy Nativity Cathedral in Suzdal') were quite beautiful. The frescoes of St. Sergey's life in the gates to the Lavra are also stunning (you can find some pictures (perhaps of similar frescoes - I don't think they're exactly the same) at the Lavra's website at http://www.stsl.ru/languages/en/page2.php).
I ended my rather long day out with part of Vigil at the Cathedral of the Kazan Icon on Red Square, which was packed 'cause the services were for the eve of St. Nicholas' Feast. (I hadn't thought about that before going there, but when I realised I was quite glad to be there.) Some ridiculous people, attempts at opera on the part of the choir, and smelly bodies made it kind of hard for me to survive the hour or so I was there, but it was good, and it was good to celebrate St. Nicholas and ask him for his blessing and prayers with fellow Christians.
And now it is after 1am and I must go to bed. God willing I'm going to the festal Liturgy at the Kazan Icon Cathedral and then going icon shopping with Shannon, and perhaps also going back over to the Danilov Monastery to try to find St. Daniel's relics there (an akathist was being celebrated when I was first there, and I could only find St. George's relics in the cathedral), so I'll need all the sleep I can get.
I hope you are all well.
Oh, it snowed in Sergiev Posad when I was there, and it also snowed a little here this evening, so I may have a white St. Nicholas' Day, which would be kind of nice (sans the cold of course :-) ). Today was the first long period of sun and the first snow I've seen in a long time.
Today's St. Nicholas' Day, but yesterday (still today for me, though it is after midnight here) I went to Sergiev Posad to venerate the relics of St. Sergey of Radonezh, one of the most famous Russian Orthodox monks in history and founder of one of the four monastic lavras of Rus' (the others being the lavras of Pochaev and the Kiev Caves in the Ukraine and of St. Alexander of the Neva in St. Petersburg).
I started out the morning far too early for someone who went to bed at 2am, but with some help (many thanks for that!) I got up a little after 7am and was able to leave with Igor when he went to work after 8am. From Khimki (on the northwestern edge of Moscow, where Igor's apartment is) I went to Danilovskiy Monastery in the south of Moscow. Danilovskiy is the oldest monastery (or so I've read) in Moscow and is home not only to the relics of Sts. Daniel and George of Danilov, but also to the Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church. It was a good place to visit. The older cathedral is beautiful, and this morning was incredibly sunny (GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST!!!), so it was nigh unto perfect.
I left Danilov sometime between 10 and 11am to go Yaroslavskiy Vokzal to catch my train to Sergiev Posad, which I managed to do after quite a bit of confusion. Thank God I was able to nap a little on the way up, and I spent about 2 hours at the Lavra, mostly in Holy Trinity Cathedral where St. Sergey's relics are kept. The Lavra is quite impressive and although most of the churches are of a post-Peter I 'ugly Western architecture in Russia' look, the older two (Holy Trinity, which resembled the cathedrals in Vladimir, and Holy Dormition, which reminded me of Holy Nativity Cathedral in Suzdal') were quite beautiful. The frescoes of St. Sergey's life in the gates to the Lavra are also stunning (you can find some pictures (perhaps of similar frescoes - I don't think they're exactly the same) at the Lavra's website at http://www.stsl.ru/languages/en/page2.php).
I ended my rather long day out with part of Vigil at the Cathedral of the Kazan Icon on Red Square, which was packed 'cause the services were for the eve of St. Nicholas' Feast. (I hadn't thought about that before going there, but when I realised I was quite glad to be there.) Some ridiculous people, attempts at opera on the part of the choir, and smelly bodies made it kind of hard for me to survive the hour or so I was there, but it was good, and it was good to celebrate St. Nicholas and ask him for his blessing and prayers with fellow Christians.
And now it is after 1am and I must go to bed. God willing I'm going to the festal Liturgy at the Kazan Icon Cathedral and then going icon shopping with Shannon, and perhaps also going back over to the Danilov Monastery to try to find St. Daniel's relics there (an akathist was being celebrated when I was first there, and I could only find St. George's relics in the cathedral), so I'll need all the sleep I can get.
I hope you are all well.
Oh, it snowed in Sergiev Posad when I was there, and it also snowed a little here this evening, so I may have a white St. Nicholas' Day, which would be kind of nice (sans the cold of course :-) ). Today was the first long period of sun and the first snow I've seen in a long time.