Russia; Religion - the Cathedral of Christ the Savior

It turns out there probably was not more fitting choice of sanctuaries we could've chosen for a visit to a Russian place of worship. We chose the Cathedral of Christ the Savior mostly just because it was the cathedral. Cathedrals are special places. They are show pieces of the church. It is where the church hierarchy is in residence, where special services are held and frankly, kind of the place where the church shows off its power and majesty.

Cathedrals often seem kind of empty on Sunday mornings. Part of that is an impression created by the building’s massive size. 200 people in a small church seems packed. In the cathedral the same number seems empty. In 2006 while in London we went to Westminster for servives. It was empty. On this Sunday I was expecting the same thing.

I was surprised to find the sanctuary mostly filled. We got there about 10:15 and the service had already started. The crowd was gathered around the altar party, standing in front of the iconostasis. The priest was chanting and the worshipers were clearly involved in  ritual chants, bows, and crossing themselves again and again.  They were accompanied by a choir, unseen in the loft, making a sound that entirely filled the large space.

Congregation was a mix of age and gender, though older women were the largest single group. Lots a single men, on the younger side of 40, seemed to be there by themselves. The service lasted for more than two hours, the crowd standing for the entire time. There are no pews in the Orthodox Church. Humanity stands before God.

Throughout the service, worshipers would visit small shrines scattered throughout the cathedral, pray, cross themselves and light candles . The candles were sold at a kiosk open throughout the service, except during communion when they shut their windows. At the alter the priests
disappeared behind the iconostasis for several minutes. The holy sacrament is not observed by the congregation and is not to be disturbed by commerce. After communion, about an hour into the service, the sermon began.  The priest spoke for 45 min. without notes.  By good fortune we saw some folks we met on the train to Moscow at the service. One of them,  Irina, is a Russian ex-pat now living in Sacramento. She filled in the gaping holes in our understanding of the service and rituals. It turns out the service length was not all that extraordinary. I was amazed at the ability of older people to stand so long. It was a challenge for me.

the Cathedral of Christ the Savior

All in all it was an extraordinary service - perhaps most extraordinary was that it was even being held. We learned later that the Cathedral had only recently been rebuilt. We were in a replica of the building that was built before the revolution, but that had been completely dismantled by Stalin in the 1930s. Stalin’s plan had been to build a massive Lenin Tower on the site. There was no use for churches, and so down it came. The tower never worked out. Its scale was too large to be supported by the soil at the river's edge and a smaller scale just would not do - a swimming pool was built in its place.

With the fall of communism and the revival of religion in Russia a campaign was begun to rebuild the cathedral. Indeed it has been rebuilt. Churches in Russia seem to be on the rebound. Younger people reared on communism seem to be exploring the faith. It's not unusual to see crosses sold and worn. Russia maybe more religious than western Europe. Not what Stalin was hoping for.