Metropolitan Kirill of Kazan Cathedral opened in Novo-Savinovskiy district

(KZN.RU, September 24, by Taisia Basharkina) A cathedral to honor the Holy Martyr Kirill, Metropolitan of Kazan, opened in Novo-Savinovskiy district today. The new Orthodox cathedral at 32 Chistopolskaya Street can accommodate up to 500 worshipers and is the biggest in Kazan. It is the first to honor the Kazan New Martyr.

The rite of consecration and the first Divine Liturgy were performed at the cathedral today. After that, it will be assigned to the Kazan Theological Seminary.

Kazan Mayor Ilsur Metshin congratulated all Orthodox believers on the long-awaited opening of the temple. “The construction of the church is a great devotional event. The Holy Martyr Kirill, in whose honor the church is named, is a historic personality we are proud of. I am happy that Kazan perpetuates his memory, it is well worth it,” said the mayor. “We are proud of the atmosphere of religious tolerance that prevails in Kazan,” he added.

For your information:
Hieromartyr Kirill, Metropolitan of Kazan and Sviyazhsk (born Konstantin Ilarionovich Smirnov), was born into the family of a psalm reader in the town of Kronstadt, St. Petersburg province, April 26, 1863. In 1920, he was appointed to the Kazan and Sviyazhsk chair, but a month later was arrested in Kazan. The clergyman was sentenced to five years imprisonment in a camp. In 1921, he was released under an amnesty and returned to Kazan, but was rearrested in 1922. After incarceration in Moscow, he was exiled in Ust-Sysolsk (now Syktyvkar) and on November 7, 1937, was shot in Lisiy ravine near Shymkent. Metropolitan Kirill was one of the most outstanding personalities in the history of the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church. His name was added to the ranks of the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia at the Jubilee Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Church in August of 2000 for general church worship.