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On Pentecost Sunday: 'Soul of Russia' Was Here!

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On Pentecost Sunday: 'Soul of Russia' Was Here! ON PENTECOST SUNDAY: ''SOUL of RUSSIA'' WAS HERE! by JOHN M. HAFFERT n historic event occurred this and the Most Rev. Constantino came to England to identify the past June 7, Pentecost Sun­ Luna, of the Apostolate of the Suf­ Icon, and subsequently the Ortho­ day, at the Blue Army's National fering, at the Blue Army National dox Church in the western world Shrine of the Immaculate Heart of Shrine. (especially in the United States), Mary. began to raise funds to purchase 0 The "soul" of Russia was pres­ the Icon-with the intention of ent at special Byzantine Uturglcal During the 1950 Holy Year, the building a special church to en­ celebrations. Pilgrim Virgin statue blessed by shrine it in San Francisco. Two Bishops, one of the Byzan­ the Bishop of Fatima in 1947 was Twice, when the Orthodox Chris­ tine Rite and one of the Latin Rite, taken to Moscow and "enshrined" tians had succeeded in raising carried the sacred and original in the chapel serving Catholics hundreds of thousands of dollars, image of Our Lady of Kazan, "Li­ attached to the various foreign the money was stolen. Then, in 1972 beratrix and Protectrix of Russia." embassies. The statue had been the Blue Army signed a contract to They touched it to a copy which kept in secret on the very property redeem the Icon. This was done will remain at the National Blue in Washington, N.J. where the with the intention of having it Army Center long after the origi­ Shrine of the Immaculate Heart of returned to Russia when the nal Icon has been restored to the Mary now lifts its great tower into promise of Our Lady of Fatima con­ Russian nation. Hundreds of at­ the sky, showing Our Lady, with cerning that historic nation is tending pilgrims, most of whom Her Immaculate Heart, extending fulfilled. were of the Byzantine Rite, partici­ the Rosary and the Scapular to the During the past few years the pated in the Byzantine Pentecost world. Icon has been in the United States Sunday Mass and then filed in In that same year an English because there has not been a Byzan­ long lines to venerate the sacred millionaire acquired the Icon of tine Chaplain at Fatima at our Inter­ Russian Icon which can truly be Kazan as a precious art object, not national Center. However, in the said to represent ''the soul of knowing that it was indeed the near future the Icon will return to Russia. " original Icon. Fatima, and from there will even­ The Bishops who participated in A Russian Countess visiting his tually go to Russia. So the special the 1981 Pentecost Sunday cere­ castle identified it, and a wave of service held on Pentecost Sunday at mony were the Most Rev. Thomas excitement swept through the en­ the Blue Army Shrine of the Immac­ V. Dolinay, Auxiliary Bishop of the tire Orthodox Church. Metropoli­ ulate Heart, from the very spot Eparchy (Diocese) of Passaic, N.J., tan Leonty, then in exile in Paris, where the Pilgrim Virgin statue went to Russia in 1950, possessed special significance . ..,oul o u .Ia~ Many of us think of Russia as a very old nation. However, it did not begin to unify as a nation until after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. It was only in 1462 that the first "autocrat" was recognized in Mos­ cow, and in 1547 that Russia had its first Czar. Left: Bishop DoUnay of the Eparchy of Passaic and Bishop Constantino Luna touch original Icon of Kazan to copy painting by Mrs. John Moran of Cedar Grove, N.J. 14 SOUL MAGAZINE The royal family then ruling in Russia lasted only fifty years. Without an immediate successor to the throne, three "pretenders," one after the other, were assassi­ nated and the new nation of Russia was plunged into the worst and darkest period of its history. For eight years bands of robbers roamed the country, armies from Poland and Sweden fought for control, as well as the Musselman Tartars, each with the intention of putting their own kings on the throne of Moscow. At this time, in the city of Kazan, which until recently had been the In photo above, left to right, Bishop Constantino Luna, O.F.M.; Bishop capital of the Mongolian Empire, Thomas V. Dollnay, Auxlllary of Eparcby of Passaic (N.J.); and Rev. Msgr. Our Lady appeared to an eight year Paul Flrczak, V.F., during a moment In the special Byzantine Day services old girl and told her of a sacred held at the Shrine of the Immaculate Heart of Mary this past June 7, picture which had been hidden and Pentecost Sunday. lost during the time of Mongolian and Mohammedan rule in Kazan. tectrix of Holy Mother Russia.'' The From the time of the peace with No one believed the little girl Icon was used in all the crises of Poland and Sweden in 1613, the until after two more apparitions of Russian history up to and including Icon of Kazan was taken to Moscow Our Lady. Then, to the amazement the invasion of Napoleon-whose and enshrined in a special Basilica of everyone, the Icon was found defeat was directly attributed by the opposite the Kremlin, in what is beneath the ruins of a burned out Russian people to Our Lady of now known throughout the world as building, in perfect preservation. Kazan. "Red Square." There was an obvious "pres­ It can be said that as the sacred When Peter the Great built a new ence" to the sacred image, and image of Our Lady emerged from capital to the north, on the sea, he miracles occurred-including the beneath the ruins of a burned out decided to build one of the most giving of sight to two men who had building in Kazan, the soul of magnificent churches in the world been born blind. Russia emerged with It; the Russian (modeled in style after St. Peter's The Icon was taken to the church nation was " born." Basilica in Rome) for the Icon of Our of Blessed Ermogen, who became One of the most bitter and long­ Lady of Kazan. the Patriarch of Moscow. He had an remembered "crises" in the subse­ The new capital of Petrograd was apparition of one of the greatest quent history of Russia was the war called "the Venice of the North." It saints in the history of Russia, St. with Poland in 1667. During this was truly a glorious city, and its Sergei. The saint told Blessed Er­ war, the Poles invoked Our Lady of Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan was mogen that this sacred image of Our Czestochowa, and the Russians indeed a fitting setting for the Lady of Kazan would be the rallying invoked Our Lady of Kazan! How "Liberatrix and Protectrix of point of the people, and that it the motherly heart of Our Lady Russia. '' would be the means of saving and must have been truly pierced with There was, however, a national establishing the Russian nation. thorns on this sad occasion I reaction against the Icon being Savior of the Russians The conflict was deeply embit­ moved from its old cathedral in tered because by now the schism Moscow, so the Czar had a beauti­ This is indeed what happened­ between the Western (Latin) Church ful copy made for the new capital in just a few years! and the Eastern (Byzantine or and left the Icon in its original The Swedish king agreed to "Russian") Church had deepened church on Kremlin Square. withdraw in return for receiving the to the point of bitter hatred. In this be .... t e1s s t "' Gulf of Finland, and the Polish king war, Russia gained Smolensk, Kiev withdrew upon receiving firm boun­ and the Eastern Ukraine. And It was When the Communists took over daries, including a section which in only thirty ye81'8 later, under Peter Russia, they almost immediately the previous fifty years had been the Great, that the great Russian focused their attention on the Icon considered part of Russia. empire began to form. (We often of Kazan as the "soul" of the From that time on the miraculous forget how recent this is ...when Russian people. image of Our Lady of Kazan was compared to the history of countries The great Cathedral of Our Lady known as the "Liberatrix and Pro- such as England, France, or China.) of Kazan in Petrograd (name now SEPTEMBER-OCfOBER 1981 15 changed to Leningrad) was made No one knows how the original pated in this beautiful service into an atheist museum, and was Icon of Kazan got out of Russia. No today, I was proud of being declared the official center of mili­ one knows how or why it was in a Russian, and proud of my faith!'' tant atheism in the world. sale of art objects in Poland after The obvious joy and pride that World War I. We only know of the On Red Square radiated from this Russian doctor extraordinary circumstances which gave us some inkling of what it led to the acquisition of the Icon by would be like when the precious and The Basilica of Our Lady of Kazan The Blue Army of Our Lady of on Red Square was destroyed by miraculous Icon of Our Lady of Fatima, whose only thought on Kazan is restored to "Her" people battering rams while the Reds receiving it was that it be returned announced that they would thus after their nightmare of more than to the people of Russia when the fifty years of atheistic persecution prove God did not exist! Their des­ promise of Our Lady is fulfilled.
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