Part of the holy relics of Saint Sophia of Slutsk (Belarus) returned to her native town
Belorussian Orthodox Church – April 2015
Nadezhda Filipchik
News Prepared for OCP Media Network
Belarus: On the 1st of April the part of the holy relics of Sophia of Slutsk – her holy foot – was brought to the native town of this Belarusian saint. This historical event should help a lot in the development of the new Slutsk eparchy.
The celebrations started in 8 a.m. after the beginning of the sacred procession from Saint Mikhail cathedral to the central square of the town and then to the monastery of Saint Sophia. The procession was headed by the bishop Antony of Slutsk and Soligorsk carrying the holy foot in his hands.
In 1930 all the churches and monasteries of Slutsk, this old Orthodox Christian centre of Belarus, were destroyed or closed. In such a situation the holy relics of Saint Sophia were brought to the Belarusian capital Minsk where some churches still were open. Nowadays the relics are kept in Minsk cathedral of Holy Spirit. But without any human interference one of the feet of the saint became separated from her relics and the Holy Synod of the Belarusian Orthodox Church decided to bring it to Slutsk.
Metropolitan Pavel of Minsk and Zaslavl, Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus, shared with the Slutsk citizens the joy of this event. Giving the interview to the Belarusian Orthodox Christian news portal Sobor.by, he explained: “Today we can observe a literally historical event. By her holy relics Saint Sophia has visibly returned to her native town Slutsk”.
Saint Sophia, Princess of Slutsk, died at the age of 26, but during her life she managed to do a lot of good things for her town and for all the Slutsk principality. Nowadays Saint Sophia gives us the great example of the commitment to the Orthodox Christianity as only due to her last will Slutsk citizens managed to save their faith after her death.
