Experts decided that the cross of the central dome of St. Sophias Cathedral in Veliky Novgorod recently regained from Spain should be kept inside this ancient Russian church, the Novgorod eparchy said on Friday.
On December 10 the dome cross will be brought to the Novgorod Kremlin from the Savior-Transfiguration Varlaam-Khutynsky monastery, where the shrine is currently kept.
On this day the Russian Orthodox Church will celebrate the holiday of the Novgorod icon of Our Lady "The Sign", which is also kept in St. S | Ads |  |
ophias Cathedral.
The dome cross of St. Sophias Cathedral was made of gilded copper in the end of the 19th century and installed after the churchs restoration in the beginning of the 20th century.
The cross is over two meters long and a meter and a half wide, topped with a stone dove statue.
According to one version, the cross was shot down during a bombardment in 1942 when Veliky Novgorod was occupied by the Spanish Blue Division (Spain was an ally of Nazi Germany). Another version says that the cross was removed by Spanish servicemen who took it away to Spain to save it from total destruction.
The whereabouts of the dome cross was unknown for a long time. It turned out that the shrine was kept in a military academy near Madrid for some 60 years.
Some Spaniards regarded the cross as a war trophy, however, after the relevant talks the Spanish side agreed to return the Orthodox relic to Russia. On November 16 Spanish Defense Minister Jose Bono handed the dome cross to Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and All Russia.
Before the return to Veliky Novgorod the cross was kept at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. On November 18 the shrine was taken to the Varlaam-Khutynsky monastery and put on the ambo in the Savior Transfiguration Cathedral. Since November 19 the relic has been available to all believers.
VELIKY NOVGOROD, November 26 (RIA Novostis Andrei Letyagin)
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