On the celebration of the Kazan Icon and “fake kokoshniks”

Head of the Ancient Kyiv Reserve, Malenkov. Photo: Večerniy Kyiv

This time, the official took offense at the celebration of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God held at the convent. Malenkov writes that on July 21 he was surprised to hear church bells ringing. After consulting “Moscow calendars,” he concluded that the UOC nuns were celebrating “the occupation of the Kazan Khanate.”

“And the church in the monastery is styled accordingly, with Russian fake kokoshniks – the Church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. This is the kind of monastery that occupies three dozen buildings in Podil,” Malenkov wrote.

1. Everyone knows the story of the miraculous appearance of the Kazan Icon, when, after a great fire in Kazan, the Mother of God appeared in a dream to a ten-year-old girl named Matrona, instructing her to uncover the icon in the ashes. But this happened in 1579, while the conquest of Kazan took place a quarter century earlier – in 1552. To claim that Orthodox Christians celebrate “the occupation of the Kazan Khanate” on the feast of the icon is a disgrace for an official of such rank.

2. The feast of the Kazan Icon is celebrated not only at Florovsky, not only throughout the UOC. There are “Kazan” churches in Europe, the United States, and even within the OCU and UGCC. Do they, too, celebrate “the occupation of the Kazan Khanate in fake kokoshniks”?

It is quite clear that these venomous commentaries are part of the “preliminary bombardment” before a possible seizure of Florovsky Monastery and other historic UOC churches in Kyiv. But beneath the hatred of the UOC lies a blatant contempt for a sacred object revered throughout the Christian world.

And one cannot help but ask – how did all these Shvonders end up in such high positions?

It feels as though they never left since Soviet times.

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