Patriarch Kirill
St. Isaac’s Cathedral in Saint-Petersburg can get the status of the Patriarch after his transfer to the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). On Thursday, April 27, said the press Secretary of Patriarch Kirill, the priest of Alexander Volkov, reports RIA Novosti.
“In my opinion, that would be the right scheme for the use of the Cathedral, given its Church status,” he said.
The priest explained that the peculiarity of the Patriarchal status of churches is that they are under the control of the Governor or of senior priest (a priest, serving as the Deputy Abbot of the temple). This major decision regarding the management of the Cathedral rests with the Patriarch as the Abbot.
As an example, wolves led the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. He said that it is quite possible to organise the management of St. Isaac’s Cathedral in the same pattern.
March 28 St. Petersburg municipal electoral Committee approved the decision to hold a referendum on the fate of Isaac. In the Russian Orthodox Church this initiative called a legal nonsense.
In January the government of St. Petersburg agreed to give Isaac ROC for free use for 49 years. The Governor of the city Georgy Poltavchenko has promised to keep the Museum function of the building. However, this caused discontent of the townspeople.