Volgograd, January 2, 2014
This was reported by the mayor of Volgograd Irina Guseva after a prayer service before the myrrh-streaming Icon of the Theotokos "Seven arrows", or "Softening of Evil Hearts", which was performed on January 2 in the Volgograd administration by Dean of the Kazan Cathedral Archpriest Vyacheslav Zhebelev, with the blessing of Metropolitan German of Volgograd and Kamyshin.
The clergy earlier arranged an cross procession by air, flying around Volgograd in a helicopter, with this wonder-working icon—an important shrine of the Russian Orthodox Church—which had been delivered to Volgograd with the blessing of Metropolitan German, in response to a request by the mayor Irina Guseva.
"Once, more than 70 years ago, prayer before a miraculous icon already helped our hero city,” said Irina Guseva, referring to the battle of Stalingrad in WWII. Volgograd is the modern name for the city. “I feel certain that joint prayer will help us in this difficult time we are experiencing now. For in these days thousands of Orthodox believers are praying to God and asking to return Volgograd to a calm and peaceful life. Our city must live. Our city will live. We will build and develop it. We will love our children and take care of our parents. And no terrorists will stop us".
The city leaders and deputies of the city Duma prayed together with the clergy for deliverance of their native city from troubles and disasters, and for prosperity of all its citizens.
As Fr. Vyacheslav noted after the prayer service, "Whatever bereavements we may have, we all must look ahead, as the Holy Scriptures say: he who turns back (to sin) will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven".
Irina Guseva has informed that the city authorities together with the Diocese of Volgograd made a decision to erect a memorial cross in the Volga River very soon. "Everybody knows that at the battle of Stalingrad and during the civil war, thousands of people were killed in the river,” she stressed. “Their bodies have never been properly buried. And we hope that the Orthodox Cross will help their souls to rest in peace".
