Today’s France is the model of a secular state, but it still keeps a multitude of ancient Christian relics, including from the period when the Orthodox and Catholic churches had not yet split apart. Correspondent of the newspaper Kultura Yuri Kovalenko interviewed Principal of the Pilgrimage Center at Korsun Eparchy of the Moscow Patriarchy, arch-presbyter of two Orthodox missions – St. Helen in Paris and Saint Nicholas in Saint-Nicolas-de-Port – Father Nikolai Nikishin about the standing of Orthodoxy in France.
– Father Nikolai, when did the modern Russian pilgrimage to France begin?
– Everything began in 1997 with a historic prayer service in front of the relics of Saint Helena of Constantinople, enshrined in the Parisian church of Église Saint Leu-Saint Gilles. Then came the awareness that Paris was not just a cultural center, but also a center of holy sites.
– The main discovery for Orthodox believers is certainly Christ’s Crown of Thorns, isn’t it?
– The Crown of Thorns is stored in Notre Dame de Paris where it is brought out for veneration on the first Friday of each month. I myself conducted the first prayer service in front of the Crown in 2004. And after Patriarch Alexis II came to Paris in 2007 with the choir of Sretensky Monastery and worshiped this sacred object, mass pilgrimage to the Crown of Thorns and other sacred objects kept in France commenced from different parts of Russia and post-Soviet space.
– Pilgrimage is not confined to Paris precincts, is it?
– There is a certain route including, in addition to The Crown of Thorns veneration, also a pilgrimage to the Protection Veil of Our Most Holy Lady in Chartres Cathedral, Lord’ Robe in Argenteuil suburb, the head of John the Baptist in Amiens and the relics of Mary Magdalene in the Church of Madeleine in Paris.
– How did you come to start studying the Orthodox relics?
– I graduated from the school of mechanics and mathematics at Moscow University and I am a scientist by my vocation. Having landed in Paris, I graduated from the Orthodox St. Sergius Institute of Theology and set to studying the sacred objects and relics. My first discovery was the relics of Saint Helena. Their authenticity was the gift that demonstrated that here in France and in the West, generally speaking, is hidden the real treasure which is more valuable than state-of-the-art technologies and other achievements of our civilization. I developed my own methodology of sacred things’ exploration that helped me come to the conviction that a set of branches in Notre Dame de Paris is not a fiction or machination, but the true Crown of Thorns worn by the Savior.
– How did it make its way to Paris?
– Everything is simple here. We are used to perceiving Crusaders as brutal robbers. But it is the Crusaders who in 1239 brought the Crown of Thorns from Constantinople to Paris. What if those Crusaders served as the instrument of God’s Providence? For many other sacred objects which they did not withdraw from Turkey are not accessible for worship nowadays! And the Crown of Thorns became a source of grace for all France and other nations.
– I heard from Russian pilgrims for the first time in my life that Lord’s Robe is now stored in the Parisian suburb of Argenteuil.
– True, this was a gift of Emperor Karl the Great for his daughter – Mother Superior at the Argenteuil Convent – in the VIII century. We know that the Persian shah presented a particle of this sacred object to Mikhail Romanov, or his father, Patriarch Philaret, to be more exact. This was taken as a special blessing on the Romanov’s dynasty after long years of the Time of Trouble. And now in the difficult for Russia days this sacred object is again revealed to us.
– The Protection Veil of Our Most Holy Lady in Chartres Cathedral is an object of special veneration for Orthodox Christians.
– This is a symbol of Holy Virgin’s intercession. The Protection Veil was brought from Constantinople, like the Crown of Thorns, but much earlier – at the end of the IX century – and played a liberation role in the history of Chartres. In 911 A.D. the city survived a devastating inroad of Vikings. The bishop mounted the city wall with that veil and suddenly the Vikings were blinded by God and retreated. Already next year their chieftain Rollo was baptized and transformed from a villain into the first Prince of Normandy.
– And how did the head of John the Baptist get into the city of Amiens in the north of France?
– It was brought from Constantinople by Crusaders. A plain cleric found the Forerunner’s Head in the ruins of the Imperial Palace; eventually it made its way to Amiens where a grand Gothic cathedral rose in a green field.
– Today almost none of the French knows that the relics of Saint Mary Magdalene are enshrined in Madeleine Church in Paris.
– You are right. In the century before last, after construction on the Madeleine Church was completed in Paris, the relics of Saint Mary Magdalene were transported there. Before that they had been kept in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume where, as the tradition goes, Mary Magdalene spent the last 30 years of her life.
– What’s the attitude of Catholics to our pilgrims?
– Very positive: The Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher organizes the worship of the Crown of Thorns and sells postcard images. Thanks to the Orthodox Christians, the turnover has grown four or five times in recent years. And while Catholics can provide only one singer on that day, I bring a whole choir from Russia. This is like a gift for them – they thank us and rejoice. And now it is owing to the zeal of Russian pilgrims that the veneration of the Crown of Thorns is being revived.
– Who form the basis of the Orthodox congregation in France?
– Three-fourths of our parishioners came here after perestroika to solve mainly their material problems. They come to our church that remains almost the only unifying factor. The issue of their religious “training” is rather acute, for the church should not be perceived as just a place of meeting.
– Soon construction on the Russian Orthodox spiritual-cultural center with a five-domed church must commence near the Tower of Eiffel. Yet a short time ago Mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë stood against its erection.
– Some Frenchmen perceive Orthodoxy, above all, as a symbol of all Russia. Having no right to turn down Moscow by virtue of Constitutional freedoms, they are afraid of “consequences.” Conversion of several prominent Catholic theologians to Orthodoxy has already caused a maelstrom and now some of the French are apprehensive about the appearance of Orthodox beauty in the heart of Paris. But they can do nothing about it: the agreement has already been signed at the top level.
Source: newspaper Kultura
