On July 24, on arrival to Dnipropetrovsk His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia headed to the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. At the entrance His Holiness was welcomed by the cathedral rector, archpriest Vladimir Aksiutin.
Many inhabitants of the city gathered in the church and around it. Attending the cathedral were Chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchy Metropolitan Varsonofy of Saransk and Mordovia, Chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchy Metropolitan Varsonofy of Saransk and Mordovia, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokalamsk, Metropolitan Iriney of Dnipropetrovsk and Pavlohrad, Metropolitan Hilarion of Donetsk and Mariupol, Archbishop Efraim of Kryvyi Rih and Nikopol, abbot of the Holy Trinity St. Sergius Lavra Archbishop Theognost of Sergiev Posad, Bishop Metrophanes of Horlivka and Slavyansk, chairman of the administrative Secretariat of the Moscow Patriarchy Bishop Sergy of Solnechnogorsk, Bishop Evlogy of Novomoskovsk, chairman of the Synodal Information Department V.R.Legoyda, chairman of the Synodal Department for Church-Society Relations archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, other co-workers of the Synodal Departments of the Moscow Patriarchate, clergymen of the diocese of Dnipropetrovsk.
Also attending the Holy Trinity Cathedral were head of the regional state administration A.Vilkul, other chiefs of the city and regional administrations.
Addressing the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church with a greeting word was Metropolitan Iriney of Pavlohrad and Dnipropetrovsk.
His Holiness Iriney offered His Holiness the Patriarch a copy of an icon venerated in the Diocese - the Samara (Novokadaysk) Icon of the Theotokos.
As a keepsake of visit to the Holy Trinity Cathedral His Holiness Patriarch Kirill donated and Icon of the Savior to the Church.
Everyone present at the Cathedral received a small icon of the Holy Hierarch Tikhon, Patriarch of All Russia as a patriarchal blessing.
A REFERENCE. The Holy Trinity Cathedral was built in the middle of the 19th century in Privozna square of Dnipropetrovsk. For a long time it was the third significant church in the city and the merchant church, for it was situated in the district of the rich merchant families, and was build on their donations. It has three altars. The right aisle is dedicated to the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. The left aisle is dedicated to St Andrew the First-Called. The three alters of the church gave names to the three streets of the city – Pervozvanovska, Troitska, Kazanska, and the Troitska square. Now all of them have different names. At the end of the 19th century a bell tower was attached to the church together with joining aisle, which increased the church square almost twice.
In the 20-ies of the 20th century the see of the ruling bishop was transferred to the Holy Trinity Cathedral.
In 1934 the church was closed due to the lack of parishioners. The bells were thrown down, the crosses torn away. The shops, workshops and storehouses were located inside the church fencing. The church itself was divided into two floors and arranged as a warehouse.
In the years of the Great Patriotic War the divine services were renewed in the church and were never stopped from the time on. The cathedral was repaired and was given back the bells and golden crosses. From 1944 it became the bishop’s see again.
In 1960 the church rector became a famous confessor and spiritual pastor, archimandrite Seraphim Tyapochkin, who had returned from exile by that time.
Lately a capital reconstruction of the cathedral was made: the façade was fully renewed, it was roofed anew, the domes were renewed. In the territory of the church there is a small necropolis, where archbishop Andrew (Komarov), archbishop Varlaam (Iliushcheko), Bishop Kronid (Mishchenko) and the former rectors of the cathedral, other priests and philanthropists are buried. In the time of the first bombardments of the city in 1941 the bodies of the deceased city residents were brought into the church yard and buried in the common grave to the right of the central gates.
Among the venerated shrines of the Holy Trinity Cathedral there is an icon “Crying Savior”, the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, the Icon of the Mother of God “Axion Estin”, “Of Samara”, the cross-reliquary with pieces of relics of St. John the Baptist, holy apostles and other saints.
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