Patriarch
Alexiy II witnessed the return of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra to the Russian
Orthodox Church.
By Yevgenia Borisova
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church was in attendance when the defense enterprise that helped armor the T-34 tank gave back its premises -- formerly the Alexander Nevsky Lavra (monastery) -- to the St Petersburg and Ladoga eparchy.
Alexiy II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, was responsible for beginning the negotiations with the Prometei institution that led to the monastery's return to the church back when he was the Metropolitan of St Petersburg and Ladoga.
Alexiy II conferred the Church Order of the First Rank of Daniil, Saint Prince of Moscow, on St Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak and Prometei head Academician Igor Gorlin for their efforts in returning church property.
"We should do much to redeem our guilt before God and the Church, because the future of the country lies in the revival of its spirituality," Mr Sobchak said.
"Without it we will not succeed in the creation of the flourishing state, neither we will make our people happy," he added.
Founded March 25, 1713, the monastery was the spiritual and educational center of St Petersburg. In Peter the Great's time it housed one of the city's first schools and one of the first printing houses.
A number of churches and residential buildings, a library, archives, the Metropolitan's Palace and Gardens were added by the time the monastery attained its peak at the turn of the 19th century.
But the monastery was disbanded in 1922 soon after the Bolsheviks took power. Little attention was paid to the monastery's grounds until after World War II.
At that time, the ruined buildings were given to the Prometei institution of hard alloys and materials.
Prometei spent about 60 million roubles (about $90 million at 1981 prices) on restoring the buildings.
The Patriarch said he was grateful to Mr Sobchak for his contribution to the spiritual life of Russia and the return to the church of the Ioann and Valaam Monastery and the Optina Pustyn.
Mr Sobchak also played a major role in returning Kazansky Cathedral in the city center to the church and the upcoming restoration of the most beautiful of St Petersburg's cathedrals -- the Cathedral of the Savior on the Spilled Blood on Kanal Griboyedova.