Solovetsky Cross Erected in Izmail

The six-meter wooden cross came from the Solovetsky Monastery in Russia’s White Sea. The monastery, established in the 15th century, was turned into a Soviet concentration camp in 1923. Hundreds of thousands died there, including many Russian Orthodox hierarchs, religious and priests, of whom Orthodox Metropolitan Anatoly of Odesa was one. Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexis II blessed the cross on 21 August 2001. Traveling through Russian and Ukrainian cities, the cross arrived in Izmail on 27 October 2001. Exactly five months later the cross was taken in procession to Izmail’s St. Nicholas Church. At the ceremony of the establishment of the cross, Metropolitan Ahafanhel announced: “The twenty-seventh of March will be celebrated as the day of the exaltation of the Lord’s cross in Izmail. The cross will be carried in procession, prayer services will be held, and the akathist will be sung.” (Editor’s note: the akathist is a traditional prayer service of the Byzantine rite.) Source: www.orthodox.org.ua