The monastery received the relics of its benefactor

At the Sanaxarian monastery

"Pray to God for us, o holy righteous Theodore!" – is proclaimed from now on at our convent. Our holy benefactor and heavenly intercessor dwells now through his venerable relics at one of the monastery churches: on October 11th, a part of relics and the icon of righteous Theodore Ushakov was brought to the monastery.

The name Theodore means a gift of God, and the holy warrior Theodore Ushakov was manifested truly as God's gift to Russia. He is her glory, her honor, the symbol of valor and Christian mercy. Almost two centuries upon his repose, righteous Theodore remains the gift of God for us: he has been given to us as a holy intercessor.

A part of his relics and the icon painted by nuns-iconographers have been brought to us from the Sanaxarian monastery by archbishop Vikentiy. St. Theodore was received in the Ural land by the guard of honor, a military ensemble, about a thousand soldiers, and the cross procession that carried the relics into our monastery became also a festive parade. One could see here marine infantry, cadets, students of the artillery and Suvorov academies, servicemen of militia...

Receiving the relics. The guard of honor

At one point righteous Theodore interceded before the Emperor about the opening of our monastery. Even though a lot of time passed since then on, today we still have the opportunity to turn to our holy benefactor. It is only that today we are not asking him for the earthly goods, and we are not asking for his intercession before the earthly king, but we hope for his help and intercession before the King of Kings, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Everyone would pray St. Theodore for whatever his needs were in front of the relics of St. Theodore. A certain servant of God was praying for her son, a soldier, serving far away from Ural; another woman – about the health of her ailing husband who used to serve in the navy. Yet another one – for the help in the restoration of a church, since St. Theodore would generously donate to churches, monasteries, almshouses... We hope that righteous Theodore would become the heavenly protector of the entire Ural region, and everyone praying to him with faith would receive what he needs.

Some photographs taken from the site of the Ekaterinburg diocese