The Kiy’s cross of Patriarch Nikon is a reliquary, which was made by his order. Initially, it was intended for the Onega Monastery. Reliquaries are the common name for containers where particles of the relics of saints were stored. They are made in various forms, one of which is the altar cross. They may contain particles of one or more saints. There are 108 of them in the described reliquary. About what the Kia cross helps in Wrens and its history will be told in the article.
History of creation
In Russia, from 1652 to 1666, Nikon was the patriarch, at which the production of crosses began, "in the measure and in the likeness of Christ." Nikon ordered several of these for the monasteries he created in Palestine. On the island of Kiev, where during a storm in 1639 he managed to escape. Onega Orthodox Monastery of the Cross was erected here, where they established one of these relics, from where its name appeared.
It was made of cypress tree, and its size was 310 by 192 by 8 cm, which corresponded to the parameters of the one on which Jesus was crucified. Its shape is seven-pointed - there is no vertical ledge above the horizontal upper crossbar. In the second half of the 17th century this form of the cross was a model for repetition, including for mortgages placed in the northern temples. The latter completed the scaffolding during the construction of buildings, and an inscription was made on them.
Island trip
Originally, the cross was brought from Palestine to Moscow. There they consecrated it on 08/01/1656, about which a memorial inscription was made in its lower part. Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich ordered him to be sent to Kiy Island in 1657 with great honors.
He was accompanied by representatives of the clergy and a company of dragoons. She was armed in the most serious way. These were 108 large and small cast-iron cannons, cores, berdysh, a substantial supply of gunpowder. At the same time, they knocked loudly on the drums, beating off the solemn march.
Where overnight stops were made, copies were made and lit. One of them was stored in the city of Onega, in the church of the Resurrection of Lazarus. Now she is in the Trinity Cathedral.
Main shrine
The relic was delivered to the island in the Onega Monastery in March 1657. It was from this time that they began to officially call it the Kiy or Nikon cross in written literary sources.
In the monastery he was considered the most important shrine. In Vozdvizhensky Cathedral, he took the place of the temple image, being to the right of the royal gates. Initially, it was erected on a stone slab, and then transferred to the monastery tomb.
Later put on a high stepped base. On both sides of it were icons of Equal-to-the-Apostles Helena and Constantine. And on the sides were the images of the worshipers - these are the people who allocated funds for the construction and decoration of the monastery with icons, murals.
In the Kyi cross placed 108 particles from the relics of the saints, as well as 16 stones taken from places associated with biblical events. In the center is a silver ark containing particles of the Life-giving Cross and Christ Robe. The relic is decorated with six small wooden crosses. They depict twelve holidays. They are in the middle of the 17th century. brought from Athos.
Detailed description
In the inventory of the monastery dating back to 1819, there is a detailed description of the Kia Cross and the relics enclosed in it. Among them, in particular, are mentioned:
- a silver forged ark with gilding containing particles of the life-giving blood of Christ;
- parts of his robe;
- pieces of milk of the Virgin;
- the blood of John the Baptist;
- blood of the Apostle Paul;
- tree of the cross of the Lord.
Above this ark is a carved cherub, also silver, gilded. He weighs three pounds with the ark. At the top in the middle of the tree is a star from the same material, and in it are parts of stones taken from the sepulcher of the Lord.
On this cross - six more small, cypress, with the image of the twelve holy days, as well as a small silver cross on which the image of the crucifixion of Christ is carved. Above the foot is the second gilded silver ark, which also contains parts of the tree of the Lord’s Cross that weigh sixty-five spools.
Today, none of the arks with shrines has been preserved.
At the expense of the Archbishop of Olonets Ignatius, who invested five thousand rubles in the Monastery of the Cross, a marble icon case was built around the described relic in 1843. An inscription was made on its pink field, where the name of the donor was mentioned. There is an image of a reliquary in a new icon case.
Royal veneration
The relic was very revered among the members of the royal family. In the house treasury of Patriarch Nikon there was a record dated 1658. It refers to two large icons painted "to the big cypress cross." One of them depicts Tsar Constantine, the Equal-to-the-Apostles, next to him is Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich along with Patriarch Nikon.
On the other, Queen Equal-to-the-Apostles Elena is presented together with Queen Mary Ilyinichna and Tsarevich Alexei Alekseevich. Both of them were executed by the icon painter Ivan Saltanov. He was a court painter under Alexei Mikhailovich and his successors. Other options were later created.
Lost relics
In the second half of the 19th century the rectors of the Onega Monastery in their reports reported that some of the relics had been lost. For example. In 1876, Archimandrite Nectarius pointed to the absence of the relics of the great martyr Procopius and the prophet Daniel.
He suggests that, most likely, they were lost when moving the holy cross along an inconvenient path from the monastery during the invasion of the enemy. Then in 1854 the British came close to the Solovetsky Monastery, and therefore the relic was taken out of the monastery.
After the closure of the monastery
In the Holy Cross Cathedral of the Onega Monastery, the reliquary was until 1923, until the monastery was closed. Before that, he left this place only once, in 1854, which was associated with the invasion of the British, as mentioned above.
In 1930, the cross was transferred to a museum of anti-religious orientation, located in the Solovetsky camp, which was a branch of the Arkhangelsk society of local history experts. It was located in the Annunciation Church in the Solovetsky Monastery.
In 1939, as part of the collection of the abolished museum, he was sent to Moscow, transferring him to the storerooms of the branch of the Historical Museum located in the Novodevichy Convent. From there, in August 1991, the Kia Cross was transferred to a church dedicated to the Monk Sergius of Radonezh. Now it is available for worship. His address: Moscow, Krapivensky Lane, 4.
A modern copy, made in 2005, is now located in the Onega Holy Cross Exaltation Monastery, on the island of Kiy.
Relic transformations
The unique Reliquary was a symbol of the continuity of the centuries-old Christian traditions of historical Palestine. The Kia Cross in Moscow was supplemented by a number of elements. At the same time they were saved on its two sides:
- parts of the tree of the Holy Cross of the Life-giving;
- stones taken from places of gospel events;
- parts of the holy relics of Russian and Eastern Christian saints.
The relic was “overlaid” with silver, mica, leaving images of Christian holidays. Six four-pointed crucifixes, 10.5 by 7.5 by 0.7 cm in size, remained in the Kiy Cross in the Wrens, which were cut into a vertical tree. Now one of them has been lost. They are decorated with miniature carvings with the hallmarks located on it with holidays and evangelists.
Today, the shrines nested in the Radonezh Kiy Cross frame 16 silver eight-pointed stars, covered with 104 silver plates. An engraving is made on them, depicting, to the waist, those saints whose relics are placed directly below them in rectangular arks.
These images were performed by Russian masters, based on iconographic scripts. A rectangular silver plate with gilding is placed under the lower crossbeam. Its dimensions are 25.5 by 18.3 cm.
At the ends and around the perimeter, the reliquary has a geometric ornament covered with silver basma. It should be noted that the art program of the Nikon Cross is unique. It has no analogues in either Byzantine, Western or Russian art.
What does the Kia cross help
In Moscow, you can come to worship the life-giving cross. As Patriarch Nikon wrote, those who do with faith will be given grace by the power of this holy relic. That is, the mercy and kindness of God will descend on this person, which will change his heart, bring them closer to the Almighty. And also, according to Nikon, prayer before this reliquary will help those who are going to travel to the holy places in Jerusalem, Christ will look after them.
As Christian theologians teach, worship of the Kya Cross helps to heal various ailments. And also it is worth resorting to his help when difficult situations happen in a person’s life. For example, it can be the death of a loved one, the breakdown of a family, troubles regarding children, a conflict with superiors. The worship of the relic will give the person who is addressing it an enlightenment of the mind, support, restoration of both spiritual and physical forces.