Saint Petersburg, Moscow

The delegation spent its second full day by stepping outside of St. Petersburg to the nearby Petrodvortsovy District. The group visited Peterhof (Dutch for “Peter’s Court”), a grand series of gardens, fountains and palaces laid out by Peter the Great in the early 18th century. Peterhof sits right just off the eastern shore of the Gulf of Finland, and was Peter the Great’s summer residence. It is called the “Russian Versailles” and the “capital of fountains”, featuring 144 fountains and five cascades throughout the lush, green acres.

Most of Peterhof had been pillaged and destroyed by the Nazis between 1941 and 1944. Russia has been restoring it ever since, yet most of the grandeur and magnificence of the complex had been completed decades ago. Outside, the Grand Cascade sits directly below the Grand Palace, shooting water in every direction through the golden statues that sit in front of it; the most famous is “Samson and the Lion.” Inside, the delegation feasted its eyes once again on the deep richness of Russian architecture and design. Family portraits and tapestries adorned the walls richly laden with gold leaf; bowls for boiling water rested on the main dining table underneath the main dining dishes so that dinners warm; and even the massive furnaces boasted unique patterns painted on them so as to fit in with the rest of the palace.

As one would already realize, Russia’s grand decorative style was not reserved just for royal houses, but for the houses built for God. These, too, are returning to their original glory and activity after the dark years of the 20th century. The delegation visited three cathedrals on Thursday, each more jaw-dropping than the rest. The first was Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, which is just minutes from Peterhof (not to be confused with Saints Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg proper). This cathedral opened in 1905, and its three priests actively serve 1,000 local families. The delegates were surprised to walk in on a baptism in the middle of the week, a sacrament usually saved for weekends to accommodate busy schedules in America. Nevertheless, the priest briefly stopped the routine weekday baptism to greet His Grace, Bishop JOSEPH and welcome the entire group. After a quick tour of the altar area and the church, the priest resumed his ministry, saw the family off, and proceeded to baptize another baby.

After lunch, the group made its way to St. Nicholas Patron of Sailors Cathedral in St. Petersburg. This parish was designated the official bishop’s cathedral after the Communists took control of the others, including Kazansky. Therefore, St. Nicholas never closed its door, though its sister parishes would face decay and destruction. Like at Ss. Peter and Paul, the priest here was performing a baptism, but he too briefly stopped the service to receive Sayidna’s blessing and welcome the delegation. Like the first parish, the priest resumed and finished the baptism, only to start another one right after. The group venerated a special icon of St. Nicholas that bore one of his relics, and sang his Troparion Hymn in English and Arabic.

The tour of St. Nicholas continued upstairs, where the group encountered a “church on top of a church.” This much grander and ornate parish was reserved for the royal family and its private services, and was much wider open than its counterpart downstairs. Now it is used for great feasts and holidays throughout the church year. As the bishop has his throne set in the center of the church, the royal family had its “booth” closer to the front. Though each “church” had completely different looks, the settings for prayer can take the worshipper out of this world to dwell in the next with equal power.

The grandest of all the visits was the last of the day: St. Isaac Cathedral, just moments away from St. Nicholas. Easily the largest church the delegation has visited, St. Isaac can stand 14,000 people, who can feel as though they were walking into heaven when the royal altar doors (standing at least 60 feet tall) open to reveal a gigantic stained glass icon of Christ “welcoming” them from the back of the altar. Its icons contain a total of 45,000 mosaic tiles of all color shades, and every single inch of the cathedral is covered in painted icons or at least some sort of artistic design.

St. Isaac was seized by the Communists, but the Russian government has kept the cathedral to preserve it as a museum. Russia has given a side chapel in honor of St. Alexander Nevsky back to the Church, which holds services there a few times a year. The cathedral, especially the altar, is still being restored after the Communists had converted it into the “Museum of Atheism.” However, St. Isaac is just one of many examples of how the Russian Orthodox Church bravely shone forth during this dangerous era. In 1981, His Beatitude, Patriarch IGNATIUS IV of Antioch visited Russia with 27 delegates. Among them was Sayidna JOSEPH, who at the time was a priest. Worship was forbidden in the “Museum of Atheism”, but the Patriarch along with His Eminence, Metropolitan ANTHONY (the ruling hierarch of Leningrad at the time), miraculously managed to openly concelebrate a Divine Liturgy with the delegation and thousands of local St. Petersburg faithful.

Later that evening, the delegates sampled a little bit of local culture called “Feel Yourself Russian”, a folk show at the Nikolayevsky Palace. It opened in the early 19th century, commissioned by Grand Duke Nicholas, a son of Czar Nicholas I. The folk show opened with a quartet singing Russian Orthodox and patriotic hymns, and then featured dozens of costumed dancers from Russia’s leading performing arts schools, singing and performing with such vigor and energy that it was hard for the audience to keep up!

The delegation will spend most of Friday once again in St. Petersburg, then voyage by train to Moscow in the afternoon to see even more sites that bear witness to Russia’s holy endurance after the fall of the godless regime.

By Subdeacon Peter Samore