Russia (bbabo.net), - On the night of January 7, representatives of the leadership of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation took part in the Christmas service, which took place in the Main Church of the Armed Forces near Moscow.

The service was attended by Deputy Defense Ministers Gennady Zhidko, Timur Ivanov and Yuri Sadovenko, servicemen and civilian personnel of the department, and their families.

The solemn liturgy in the central altar of the upper church was served by the head of the Synodal Department for Cooperation with the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement Agencies, Vicar of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Bishop Bronnitsky Savvaty.

The RF Ministry of Defense recalled that the cathedral, in which the Christmas service was held, was erected with donations. The temple was consecrated on June 14, 2020 - the year of the 75th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. And it opened to parishioners on June 22 of the same year. Today, the Main Church of the Armed Forces is one of the three Patriarchal Cathedrals in Russia. The upper church was consecrated in the name of the Resurrection of Christ, the lower church - in honor of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir.

The vaults of the temple are assembled from stained-glass windows depicting orders that were awarded for feats of arms in different periods of Russian history. And the image of the Savior Not Made by Hands in the central dome of the temple is the largest image of the face of Christ, made in mosaics. The dimensions of the temple are symbolic and refer to the most important "numerical" milestones associated with the history of the Great Patriotic War.

So, the diameter of the main dome is 19.45 meters (the year of the end of the Second World War). The height of the belfry is 75 meters (anniversary of the Great Victory). The height of the small dome is 14.18 meters (the war lasted for so many days). Also, according to the number of front-line days and nights -1 418 - the length of the gallery of the "Memory Road" museum complex was determined in meters. She, by the way, encircles the temple. And in the very multimedia museum "Road of Memory" information about all the participants of the Great Patriotic War is collected.

On Christmas days, a winter festival is held on the cathedral square of the temple, which has already been attended by more than 140 thousand people. An ice skating rink with an area of ​​5.5 thousand square meters and a tubing slope with a length of about 60 meters are open in front of the temple.

Next to the temple in the Patriot park, guests are greeted by the only museum in Russia on wheels dedicated to the events of the Great Patriotic War. The Victory Train arrived here on December 25 and will be available for visiting until January 16 inclusive.

bbabo.Net