The repatriation of the Tikhvin God’s Mother icon scheduled for June 9 may become the cardinal event of 2004 for the Leningrad Region.

The decision over the repatriation of the icon was taken last year. Nevertheless, the real preparations for the event began after the icon’s owner met the Patriarch Alexy II on January 12, 2004 in Moscow. At the meeting it was decided that the exact date of the solemn ceremony of the relic’s donation to the Russian Orthodox Church in the Tikhvin Assumption monastery will take place on June 9, 2004. The patriarch himself should take part in the event. The leaders of the Russian government are also expected at the ceremony, and it is even possible that President Vladimir Putin himself will attend the event.

The high status of the event means that many investments must be made in Tikhvin’s infrastructure. Roads must be improved, small hotels must be built, parking lots must be made, and building facades must be repaired. Furthermore, the transportation system leading to Tikhvin must also be improved.

Besides the money needed for the actual event, infrastructure improvement, and so on, money for repairs of the actual monastery will also be needed. The sum in total needed for all facets of the Tikhvin event will be $5 million.

Nowadays, the Tikhvin icon is in Chicago (USA) kept by a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church Sergy Garklavs. Last year he declared his wish to return the holy icon to the Tikhvin Repose-of-the-Virgin monastery.

News source: www.dp.ru
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