On August 1, 2012 Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia arrived in Nizhny Novgorod.
On the square in front of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, His Holiness performed the rite of consecration of a 64-ton bell – the third largest in Russia.
Thousands of people attended the Patriarchal Divine Liturgy, and the Patriarch was joined by the Kira Moleva choir of the Cathedral.
Work on this bell began in 2007, with the blessing of Patriarch Alexy II. It is decorated with embossed icons of St. Seraphim of Sarov, St. Macarius Zheltovodsk, Holy Prince Alexander Nevsky and George Vsevolodovich, the founder of Nizhny Novgorod.
At the consecration, the Patriarch said:
“It gives me great pleasure, on the way from Moscow, to visit the Diveevo in Nizhny Novgorod, visit this sacred place close to my heart, and sanctify the third largest bell of Holy Russia.
You heard the powerful sound of this bell. What do we, the Russian Orthodox people, associate with that sound? On the one hand, this sound brings us to the past. It connects us with the previous generations, those who spared no effort to build churches, schools, almshouses, hospitals, who have spared no effort to fill the lives of our people Christian values, chief among them – love. This bell reminds us how great and wonderful our past was….
And these wonderful sounds of the bells will pay us well for the future. We are all responsible for ensuring that the spiritual potential of Holy Russia inseminate the next generation, and give them the power of faith, strength of moral feeling, the love his homeland, his people, his church, to resist every Diabolic temptations, to separate the lies from the truth, good and evil, light from darkness. And if we retain this ability, we do not just save our Fatherland – we will make it spiritually and financially strong.”