MOSCOW, June 4. /TASS/. Russian believers celebrate the Feast of the Holy Trinity on Orthodox Pentecost Sunday, which falls on June 4 this year. The day before, Andrey Rublev’s celebrated ‘Holy Trinity’ icon was delivered to Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral. The icon will be available for veneration after the holiday service.
The Feast of the Holy Trinity is one of the twelve main church feasts. It is called Pentecost because it falls on the 50th day after Easter.
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia will hold a service in the Christ the Savior Cathedral on June 4, and after the liturgy, the icon will be available for veneration by the faithful. It will be accessible from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. However, in order to provide the necessary conditions, technical breaks of up to 60 minutes are possible.
The Trinity was painted by Rublev in the first quarter of the XV century. It is one of the masterpieces of Russian icon-painting art. In 1929, the authorities transferred the icon to the State Tretyakov Gallery. On May 15, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his decision to transfer the icon from the Tretyakov Gallery to the Russian Orthodox Church. Then, the Russian Culture Ministry said that the icon will be accessible to the faithful at the Christ the Savior Cathedral from June 4 to June 18. It will be supervised by the Tretyakov Gallery’s staff, with strict control of the temperature and humidity observed. The State Tretyakov Gallery then said that the icon must be returned to the museum’s depository no later than June 19, 2023. The patriarch, however, expects that the icon will remain in Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral for a year, and then it will be returned to its historical place in the Trinity Cathedral of the Trinity Lavra (Monastery) of St. Sergius, located outside Moscow.