Moscow news
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22-Aug-2007
Monument to St Savva Storozhevsky opened in Zvenigorod.
MOSCOW, August 22 (Itar-Tass) - A monument to Russian saint Savva Storozhevsky, confessor of Russian Prince Dmitry Donskoi and preceptor of icon-painter Andrei Rublev, was opened in Zvenigorod, Moscow region, on Wednesday.
The monument erected near the entrance of the St. Savva Storozhevsky Monastery was sanctified by Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia as part of the celebrations marking the 600th anniversary of the decease of Savva Storozhevsky, one of the most venerated saints of Russia.
St. Savva Storozhevsky is shown sitting on the stub in the guise of a monk and bast shoes. He raises one arm in a blessing gesture and the other touches on a plant on the base of the stub. The monument is made of bronze and its total height is of almost 3.5 metres.
The monument?s author, architect Sergei Sorokin, told Itar-Tass Andrei Rublev?s icon of St. Savva Storozhevsky had become a model for the monument. In his words, there is another monument to St. Savva in Zvenigorod where he is represented jointly with Zvenigorod Prince Yuri, younger son of Prince Dmitry Donskoi.
The Moscow region administration and Zvenigorod donated the monument to the St. Savva Storozhevsky Monastery.
The opening ceremony was attended by State Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov.
About 3,000 people took part in the ceremony of opening the monument to Venerable Savva Storozhevsky. Most of them participated in a religious procession across the streets of the city till the monastery.
?Today we remember and pay tribute to one of the most venerated saints of Russia. He is revered as preceptor of monks and a wise person who sincerely loves his motherland,? Alexy II said.
The patriarch recalled that a big and fruitful work had been done by monastery?s brethren, the Trusteeship Council led by Boris Gryzlov and Zvenigorod?s authorities.
He said the impressive restoration works had been done in Venerable Savva?s scete (an isolated place where St. Savva prayed).
Alexy II thanked the authors of the monument. In his view, the monastery ?should show God?s grace and God?s power?. He reminded of the sad impressions in the 1970?s when Alexy II visited the monastery. The patriarch was a witness of ?past grandeur?. On the present significance of the monastery and the spiritual restoration of the country, he said, ?Each of us should realise that we have a common history and a common future that we?re building jointly.?
Gryzlov said St. Savva Storozhevsky lived in the difficult times of gathering of the Russian lands. His works made St. Savva Storozhevsky one of the most venerated saints among the people. ?The restoration of St. Savva?s skete is included in the programme ?Historical Memory? of the United Russia political party,? he said.
Zvenigorod Mayor Leonid Stavitsky said, ?We?re very pleased to accept those who love and respect the history of our state and value Orthodoxy.? He noted that in the history of Russia there are persons who serve an example to future generations. Venerable Savva is among them. The mayor presented the patriarch and the Duma speaker small copies of the monument.
In 1398, Prince Yuri asked St. Savva, one of the first disciples of Sergii Radonezhsky, to go to Zvenigorod and to establish a monastery on the Storozhi Holm (Watching Hill). St. Savva of Storozhi was interred in the white stone cathedral of the Virgin's Nativity in 1407. From the 17th century the cathedral became a spiritual centre of the Romanov dynasty.
The monastery was closed in 1919-1998. Nine years ago St. Savva?s relics were translated to Zvenigorod from Moscow that started the monastery?s restoration. Now a total of 54 monks and novices live in the monastery. An orphanage is opened in the monastery. It has been granted the status of stauropegial monastery ? under the direct jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate and Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia.
After the ceremony Patriarch Alexy II and Gryzlov left for St. Savva?s skete.
Itar Tass