Russian Reflections

Yesterday I went to see the most extraordinary church that I have ever seen – and I have seen quite a few. This snappily named cathedral took just two years to build and was consecrated on 14 June 2020 and officially opened a week later. The Cathedral and the adjacent museum were built in Patriot Park, a military-themed complex 60km west of Moscow near the village of Kubinka.

The Cathedral is painted a very unusual green colour reminiscent of Army camouflage, incidentally or deliberately I don’t know. It is one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world and is full of symbolism in its size. For instance the diameter of the dome is 19.45 meters symbolising 1945 the year when the Great Patriotic War ended. The height of the belfry is 75 meters in reference to the fact that 2020 marked 75 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany. And the height of the small domes is 14.18 meters marking the 1418 days and nights that the Great Patriotic War lasted for Russia.

The Cathedral is richly decorated with mosaics which, being a cathedral for the Armed Forces, are of military scenes including Russian victories over the Mongols, Turks, French, Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan together with more recent references to conflicts in Afghanistan, Crimea and Syria. The glass ceiling panels contain images of various battle honours and medals, including some with the Communist hammer and sickle. The image of the Saviour-Not-Made-by-Hands in the central dome of the church is the largest image of the Christ’s face executed in mosaic.

Entering first into the Crypt, usually very spartan affairs with low vaulted plain stone walls, you find yourself in subterranean palace of blue and gold mosaic. Much of the decoration was in an Art Nouveau style, but the overall feeling for me was of Islamic-inspired art. It was completely jaw dropping. At the far end of the crypt behind an iconostasis was the font. And what a font it was. This was no wetting the baby’s head type of font (though there was one of those too). This was a full on immersion type of font richly tiled in blue, gold and silver. The crypt is dedicated to St Vladimir who led the Christianisation of Kyivan Rus’ in the 10th Century.

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Upstairs, the main cathedral was no less spectacular with its greeny/gold pillars and vaults, mosaic walls and glass panelled roof. And centre stage was an enormous gold Jesus on a wall of brilliant blue.

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The idea was the brain child of Russian Defence Minister Shoigu and has been mired in much controversy. Although the project has been fully supported by the Russian Orthodox Church some clergy are “wary of merging militarism with faith”. Leaked photos showed unfinished mosaics of Mr Shoigu with President Putin and other high ranking Russian officials, and soldiers carrying a banner of Stalin, were hastily removed after public criticism. The cost is rumoured to be $82 million and was supposed to have been financed entirely by donations but according to reports $40 million came from the Kremlin.

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The money spent can be seen in the quality of the work. Architecturally it is stunning, and beautiful. But I felt uncomfortable surrounded by images of war in a place of worship which, in my opinion, should be for peace, reconciliation and remembrance.

It is free and open to all and well worth a visit for you to make up your own mind.

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