Moscow: Our Lady of Kazan

The Icon of Our Lady of Kazan Cathedral, also called Kazan Cathedral, is an Orthodox church located on Red Square in Moscow. It is the place where the icon was first brought from Kazan to be venerated in Moscow, in the heart of the Russian nation, because of the miracle wrought by the Mother of God of Kazan in the liberation of the Moscow region from the Polish occupation (1612).

The first mention of a church there dates back to 1625. It was initially a wooden church, rebuilt in stone after a fire destroyed it. When Saint Petersburg became the capital, the icon was sent there; the Czar simply left a beautiful copy in Moscow.

In 1936 the church was destroyed for ideological reasons.

From 1990 to 1993 the city of Moscow had the cathedral rebuilt.

During the communist era, the original icon of Kazan successively passed through Poland, England and Fatima, Portugal. It was finally returned to Russia by decision of Saint John Paul II in 2004, only making a brief stop in Moscow before reaching its original place of Kazan.

Today, Our Lady of Kazan is also credited and venerated for freeing the country of Communism.

The Byzantine liturgical calendar celebrates on October 22nd the Commemoration of the miracle of the Mother of God of Kazan and the liberation of the Moscow region from the Polish occupation (1612).

Sources:

Attilio GALLI, Madre della Chiesa dei Cinque continenti, Ed.

Segno, Udine, 1997, p. 294