MOSCOW, July 12. /TASS/. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Russian Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova on Wednesday approved an agreement for the formal donation of Andrey Rublev’s 15th-century "Holy Trinity" icon to the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra monastery in Sergiyev Posad, Moscow Region, the Moscow Patriarchate said in a statement on its website.
"The ceremony approving the agreement between the State Tretyakov Gallery and the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra for the transfer of Andrey Rublev’s ‘Holy Trinity’ icon to the Lavra for its free-of-charge use took place in the Portrait Hall of the St. Petersburg Metropolitan building at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra," the statement reads.
St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov, State Secretary of the Union State of Russia and Belarus Dmitry Mezentsev, First Deputy Culture Minister Sergey Obryvalin, Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga Varsonophy and other priests attended the ceremony.
Dating back to the 15th century, the Holy Trinity icon is regarded as one of Rublev’s most famous masterpieces. It was painted for the iconostasis of the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra and was moved to the Tretyakov Gallery in 1929.
The Moscow Patriarchate said on May 15 that the icon would be returned to the custody of the Russian Orthodox Church by order of President Vladimir Putin. The Russian Orthodox Church said later that the Holy Trinity icon would be displayed for veneration at Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral on June 4-18. However, Patriarch Kirill said later that the icon would remain on display at the cathedral for a year and then would return to its traditional place in the Trinity Cathedral at the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius monastery. The Tretyakov Gallery in turn, stated that according to an agreement on the icon’s display, it should be returned to the museum’s restoration department no later than June 19. On June 16, it was announced that the duration of its display had been extended to July 18.