"Secret patrons": what is hides the main temple of the Armed forces
Resurrection Cathedral or the main temple of the Russian Armed forces was opened to public access the Day of memory and grief – June 22. The RIA Novosti correspondent visited the Cathedral together with the head of the arts Council for the construction of Archpriest Leonid Kalinin, and found the meaning of the symbolism of the Cathedral as the main temple of the Armed forces can reconcile believers and atheists.
Entering the temple-meets-huge – gold – the figure of "Christ is Risen" against the blue-black sky. "Night, only that the risen Christ over the city of Jerusalem, with one hand bless us, and the other holds a sealed scroll, in which the mystery of the next century," Leonid Kalinin, who also heads the expert Council of the Russian Orthodox Church on Church art, architecture and restoration.
Mosaic, which depicts the sky around Christ, reminiscent of fabric. "Celestial sphere hangs over him like a tent. It echoes the form of military tents," explains Kalinin.
Military tent reminds green of the temple, causing some of it seems dark and gloomy. "Red is the color that many people like, "martyrdom", symbolizes the shed blood. It's not a very "joyful" sense, although the color bright, beautiful, it is used for Easter services. And green is just the color of the field uniform. The temple of war," - said Kalinin.
With the statement that the dark Cathedral, the architect strongly disagree. Because its color is not just green, but "gold and bronze". And in the temple, 1340 square meters of stained-glass Windows which adorn the military order. "Everywhere the natural light, the temple is very festive, just strict as the strict military form," - says the Chairman of the arts Council.
However, the color red, and not just "martyrdom" in the temple missing: are the banners of the armed forces and formations of the Soviet Army on the flagpoles with the hammer and sickle (may surprise some of the parishioners of the Orthodox Church), reinforce the impression the heroes of the great Patriotic war, which sternly "look" from the walls of the Cathedral, above them, red cover, virgin, a bit like the heroine poster "Motherland". The mother of God with the rigor and supplication in the eyes, calling the sons of the Fatherland in feats of arms.
However, as explained by father Leonid, the connection between Soviet and Christian symbols in the Cathedral there. "Christian symbols located above all other, and not only Soviet - it's as though above us, is the spiritual sky," he explained.
Indeed, all of the mosaics of the lower tier of the two-part temple. At the bottom, which shows soldiers from different times (there was a place there and the participants of the recent conflicts in Afghanistan, Syria, Georgia, and Crimea), mosaic plot resemble the image in the Moscow metro, and at the top, where the faces of the saints, Byzantine temples.
"The world consists of the visible part and the invisible. Apparent – we, the people who do works and deeds. But above us there are heavenly patrons, which helps invisibly, even when we do not know about. Those who are depicted at the bottom, don't even pay attention to the fact that they the host of heaven, which makes them truly invincible host of the earth," explained Kalinin.
All four of the chapel of the Church dedicated to the patron saints genera and species of troops: Elijah the prophet - the heavenly patron of the aerospace defence forces and airborne forces, Prince Alexander Nevsky - the army, the great Martyr Varvara - the strategic Missile forces and the Navy "meets" the Apostle Andrew.
One of the two-phase mosaics dedicated to the Archangel Gabriel, by which - the rough faces of the liberators of Ukraine. The image of the Archangel framed by a quote from the Apostle Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians: "take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may withstand in the day sly, and having done all, to stand."
Coincidentally, on 14 June, the day of the consecration of the Cathedral, the Liturgy was read a passage from the same Apostle Paul, which says that "the saints through faith conquered Kingdom, through faith subdued shelf". This drew the attention of Patriarch Kirill, who consecrated the Cathedral and became its Abbot.
"As I said, the people who fought on the frontline during the Great Patriotic war, spies, crossed the front line and never knew they will come back: in the trenches under the shells there are no atheists. And why not atheists? Yes, because belief in God gives people hope for immortality," he said that day in his sermon the Primate of the Russian Church.
This idea is reflected in the icon of the Saviour with the sword is an ancient way, which, according to Kalinina, found in a Turkish monastery Choir and in the Serbian monastery of Decani (High Decani, Kosovo – ed.). "Christ, who, I think, defends and protects us from evil as a spiritual warrior. He was the conqueror of death, the devil. If people follow Christ in their life, they are winners", - said the Archpriest.
Kalinin recalled that Georgy Zhukov was not forbidden to pray and even opened temples. Also, according to him, many officers during the war, prayed before the icons: the Museum "Road of remembrance", which also opened on June 22, represented by the icon, found in the dugout Rzhev.
"It is generally believed that people during the second world war were unbelievers, and in fact, in moments of mortal danger remembered God," says the priest.
About God and the Church at the beginning of the great Patriotic War is remembered and the Supreme commander of Joseph Stalin. His picture was also in the temple, but this angered the Church community - and it decided to remove.
"The Kingdom of heaven was and is always above us. We are all God's children. Are obedient, stubborn, even obstinate. But frankly godless, which were many in the Soviet period, we on the walls of temples is still not represented," commented Kalinin, the decision to remove the mosaic with Stalin.
In General, the main temple of the sun as if is intended to connect people, separated by the revolution and a fratricidal civil war. Some of us are still in tacit or explicit struggle - there are, unfortunately, many in the Church and in the world, agrees Kalinin. He called the false position of believers who take everything Soviet is negative.
"If there was a historical figure – they have to say, to assess if you understand this", - he stressed. In General, said the Archpriest, "to tear out the pages of history, we have no right". Some of these pages before the eyes of the incoming to the Cathedral.
On one of the three mosaics in the narthex of the Church - transmission of the red Army tank column "Dmitry Donskoy". In 1942, the then Patriarchal Locum Tenens Metropolitan Sergius (Stragorodsky) called on the congregation to raise funds to help the front. He, as you know, despite the repression (he is under investigation) stated that "Church leaders - with our people and government." It Sergius, the Council of bishops of the Russian Church elected in 1943, the first after a long break with the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia. Other murals depicting the overflight of Moscow Tikhvin icon of the mother of God, which was committed in 1941 and the procession with the Kazan icon of the virgin in the besieged Leningrad.