As Obama and his White house team were ordering Georgetown University to cover up images of Jesus, Fidel Castro names newly consecrated cathedral after famous Marian apparition. Calls church "Our Lady of Kazan"
First Church built in Cuba in fifty years.
As the story goes in 1579, the Virgin Mary, in Kazan, in the Ukrain, appeared in a prophetic dream to a 10-year-old girl named Matrona and the Virgin told her where to find the precious image which had been lost in a fire. The child was led to the icon by the apparition and she promptly picked the relic out of the ashes.
Fidel Castro calls her a spiritual force.
Cuban government uses own money to build first Church in 50 years in Havana Cuba. “Russia turned to her for support. Our capital is honored with the presence of a Temple worthy of the prestigious Russian Orthodox Church.
The gold-domed “Our Lady of Kazan” cathedral was built over the last four years, “discreetly and slowly, mirroring the development of ties between Havana and Moscow”, says BBC Mundo's correspondent in Cuba, Fernando Ravsberg Most of the construction of the church, which is located in historic old Havana surrounded by Spanish colonial architecture, was paid for by the Cubans.
Fidel Castro described the church as “a monument to Russian-Cuban friendship and all the efforts that have preserved our relations including the most difficult moments of the Cold War,"
The large Russian Orthodox Church called “Our Lady of Kazan” is named after the famous icon of the Madonna and child. The icon, perhaps the most revered treasure in all of Russia, was returned to Russia by Popex John Paul II just before he died. Before the icon was returned to Russia the portrait hung in John Paul II's private office. He had hoped to deliver the Madonna and Child painting personally to the Russia people but divisions between the Orthodox Church and the Vatican precluded the Pope from visiting Russia.
The story of “Our Lady of Kazan”
“After a fire destroyed Kazan in 1579, the Virgin Mary appeared in a prophetic dream to a 10-year-old girl named Matrona and told her where to find the precious image again. As instructed, Matrona told the archbishop about her dream, but he would not take her seriously. After two more such dreams, on July 8, 1579, the girl and her mother themselves dug up the image, buried under the ashes of a house, where it had been hidden long before to save it from the Tatars. The unearthed icon looked as bright and beautiful as if it were new. The archbishop repented of his unbelief and took the icon to the Church of St. Nicholas, where a blind man was cured that very day.”
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