www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Pope to return Kazan Icon to Russia 8/28

Pope to return icon to Russia
Sat 10 July, 2004 18:28

INTROD, Italy (Reuters) - Pope John Paul plans to return a 16th century icon to Russia to try to help thaw frosty relations between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox church, his spokesman says.

The Kazan Madonna, a Russian icon the Vatican has possessed since the early 20th century, will be handed over to the Moscow Patriarch Alexiy II in August.

"The Holy Father hopes this pilgrimage of the Kazan Madonna will contribute to the wished for unity between the Catholic and Orthodox churches," Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls announced on Saturday in the Alpine retreat where the Pope is on holiday.

The 83-year-old Pope has expressed his wish to visit Russia, and but only with the blessing of the Patriarch, which has not been forthcoming. The two churches split a millennium ago.

A Vatican delegation will return the icon to Russia on August 28, a feast day of the Madonna in the Orthodox calendar. The icon was originally in the cathedral of Kazan, a city east of Moscow.

Wow, Pani Rose, we cross posted. You sure are quick! I think this is great news but tinged with a bit of sadness. It's so wonderful that the icon is returning home where she belongs. I hope that many graces are received becuase of this. Too bad that His Holiness is still not welcome, though.

The BBC is also reporting this story:
Pope to return icon to Russia [news.bbc.co.uk]

Hey Manuel,

I was just thinking it is not by any coincidence that the Wonderworking Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God
to the Russian Orthodox Church and now this, God is doing something really special in Russia. It will be interesting to watch and see if there is a tremendous revival in Russia.

Pani Rose

Quoted from Pani Rose: I have said before, and will repeat myself, that the revival of Christianity will come from the East. I think the Holy Father realizes that too, since he keeps saying to look to the East. The West is so saturated with syncretism, universalism, and modernism, that I don't look for any rebirth of Christianity to come from there.

"The 83-year-old Pope has expressed his wish to visit Russia, and but only with the blessing of the Patriarch, which has not been forthcoming. The two churches split a millennium ago."
The Moscow Patriarchate did not exist in 1004, so it could not have split from anything a millennium ago. Wouldn't it be nice if the Holy Father gave the Icon to the Old Ritualists?
Incognitus

That wouldn't be politically correct.

While I am delighted that the icon is finally being returned to Russia , I am sad that the Holy Father will not be returning it personally as he initially wanted . It was a personal prayer intention of mine that the Holy Father would return the icon during an historic papal trip to Russia. I now hope and pray that this gesture will only increase the likelihood of a papal visit.

The question now is: Where will the icon be enshrined? The city of Kazan was in negotiations with the Vatican for the icon to be retuned there. Will the icon still go Kazan or be enshrined in Moscow or in St. Petersberg?

I hope that His Holiness Alexei will return this generous gesture and return to Ruthenian Catholics the icon of Our Lady of Mukachevo which was taken from them during the confiscation of the Basilian Monastery of Saint Nicholas in Mukachevo.

Our Lady of Kazan, pray for us!

Most of Ukraine's most precious and priceless religious patriomony has either been; (a) destroyed, (b) shipped to Russia and is now in museums within that country, (c) sold (legal or illegal sale), or (d) unknown status.

The Ukrainian government is in the process of repatriating thousands of lost pieces of religious patrimony for the peoples and Churches of Ukraine. All of the Ukrainian churches are in the process of re-claiming their lost / stolen religious art throught special national sub-ministries which have been created for this purpose. If the UGCC (Mukachevo Eparchy included) has not already started the process, then you can contact the Ukrainian American Committee through one of their online web site 'Art Ukraine'.

Hritzko

Hritzko

I am not an authority on Seraphim of Sarov, but I seem to recall some prophecy he made that Russia would see a great revival. Anyone else out there who knows more?

Friends:

The icon of Our Lady of Kazan was given to His Holiness only in 1993 by the Blue Army (Our Lady of Fatima lay organization), after the group purchased it in a public auction.

Pope John Paul has kept the icon since then in his apartment.

The Vatican was not in possession of the icon since the beginning of the 20th century, contrary to what Reuters reported.

I think the icon disappeared during the Russian Revolution, probably stolen, and ended up in the possession of a British collector who offered it for sale.

ZENIT has the "more correct" story.

Amado

Amadeus is correct and the BBC and Reuters are wrong. The icon was at the Blue Army Shrine in Washington, NJ prior to 1993.

The "owners" of the Kazan Icon of the Holy Theotokos approached what was then the Russian Metropolia and is now the Orthodox Church in America, with an offer to sell the Metropolia the Icon at a high price. The Metropolia built a temporary chapel at the New York World's Fair and eshibited the Kazan Icon there in an effort to raise the money, but did not succeed. The Blue Army then bought the Icon.
Incognitus

[Amadeus is correct and the BBC and Reuters are wrong. The icon was at the Blue Army Shrine in Washington, NJ prior to 1993.]

WRONG AGAIN! The Icon was housed in a small Chapel at Fatima until 1990 (the fall of communism) when it myseriously dissapeared from the Chapel. I spent three years contacting the Vatican, the Blue Army, and many Roman Catholic organizations as to its whereabouts. They all played dumb.

here is an excerpt from a Roman Catholic website regarding the Icon time spent in Fatima. The rest of the aricle is hard to take regarding the real purpose for the Icons return -

http://www.traditioninaction.org/religious/a011rpKazan.htm

Excerpt:

2. Kazan and the Fatima Message

The Blue Army built a small chapel in Fatima for the icon�s safekeeping, and it remained there until 1993, when it was given to John Paul II, who transferred it to his private apartments in Rome and announced his intention to hand-deliver it to Russia as soon as possible. That is to say, the icon would be returned to Russia based on the false notion that Russia had converted and the promises of Fatima were fulfilled. (4)
(4) For a full account of the Blue Army�s betrayal of their custodianship, see my article �Handing Over the Symbolic Icon of Our Lady of Kazan: A Confirmation of a Great Crisis in the Church,� The Remnant, January 31, 2001.
Thus, the return of the Kazanskaya to the Schismatic patriarch Alexis II would signify that Russia does not need conversion and that the Russian Schismatic Church is not in error. Instead of being a confirmation of the conversion of Russia, as it was initially planned, this return would close the door on the realization of the Fatima message. It would signify that Fatima no longer has relevance for our times.
An important part of the Fatima message, one that the present day Vatican seems determined to discount or revise at all account, are the words of the Virgin Mary about Russia. In her July 13 appearance to the three children, Our Lady said she would come to ask �for the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart and the Communion of Reparation of the first Saturdays. If my requests are listened to, Russia will be converted and there will be peace� If not, she will spread her errors throughout the world.�

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OrthoMan

I always preferred Our Lady of Vladimir.
Let the Orthodox have their Orthodox icon. A Church of Weakland, Mahoney, Law and Hubbard is ill poised to call anyone schismatic, until it removes those who are heterodox shepherds from within its own ranks that hide behind the guise of "political" unity with Rome, not unity of doctrine.

This board seems more interested in a venerable inanimate object of wood than the 3,500 human fetuses that have had their wombs turned into tombs and executed everyday since 1973.

Random, off-topic etymology question (because I'm obsessive/compulsive that way)...

...wouldn't Our Lady of Vladimir translate to 'Our Lady of Lady of Peace', or something close to that?