Published: September 11, 2026 3:49 pm
Author: RT
Processions, exhibitions and concerts marked 80 years since the reported Appearance of Christ the Savior in Elista
A Cossack motor rally and a closed screening of the film The Elista Miracle were also held in the republic, attended, among others, by descendants of the witnesses Semyon and Maria Bondarenko.
The culmination of the celebrations came on September 10, when believers received the icon The Appearance of Christ the Savior to the Praying in the City of Elista at the Kazan Cathedral.
After the Divine Liturgy, more than 2,000 people took part in a religious procession to the Exaltation of the Cross Church, while earlier the holy image had visited churches in the district centers of the republic.
As part of the anniversary events, a strategic session was held on the role of pilgrimage in strengthening the unity of Russia.
The festive evening concluded with a concert on Victory Square and a performance by the Choir of the Moscow Sretensky Monastery with the program Russia Is Our Only One, which included a new composition by Fyodor Stepanov set to verses by Hieromonk Roman.
On September 11, 1946, a miracle of the Appearance of Christ the Savior to the faithful took place in the Exaltation of the Cross Church, witnessed by the priest and parishioners.
After that, parish member Semyon Bondarenko set out in search of an artist capable of capturing the miracle in an icon. As a result, the icon The Appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Praying in the City of Elista was brought to Elista in the spring of 1947.
