The ark with particles of the Lord's Cross and relics of two ancient saints arrives in Vitebsk

May 9, Vitebsk / Olga Bogacheva - BELTA /. An ark with particles of the Lord's Cross and relics of two ancient saints will arrive in Vitebsk today, BELTA was informed by the Ideological Work Department of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee. The relics will arrive in the city around 12:00 PM and will be exhibited in the Holy Assumption Cathedral, where a divine service will be held on the occasion of this event. Believers of the region will be able to venerate the shrines until 9:00 AM on May 11. Then the ark will be located in the Pokrovsky Cathedral in Grodno. The shrines from Mount Athos arrived in Belarus on April 29 on the initiative of the episcopate of the Belarusian Orthodox Church and with the participation of the Minsk parish of the church of St. Mary Magdalene, Equal to the Apostles. Residents of Minsk, Bobruisk, and Mogilev have already been able to venerate them. The Life-Giving Cross, on which Jesus Christ was crucified, is one of the main Christian relics. The Cross was found in 326 by an expedition equipped by Saint Empress Helena (mother of Emperor Constantine the Great). This story is described by many authors of that time: Ambrose of Milan, Rufinus, Socrates Scholasticus, and others. The Holy Cross was constantly divided into parts, many of which were preserved throughout the world. Saint Mary Magdalene is one of the disciples and companions of Christ, mentioned in the Bible, and Saint Great Martyr Barbara was born in Heliopolis (modern Syria) during the reign of Emperor Maximinus (305-311) into a noble pagan family. Having believed in Christ, she accepted Baptism, for which her own father handed her over to the city court. Barbara was brutally tortured and humiliated. The ruler of the city, in the end, gave the father the right to judge his daughter himself, and he beheaded her. -0-