Isaakievsky Cathedral when transferring to the free use of the Russian Orthodox Church will remain in the ownership of St. Petersburg

The authorities of St. Petersburg and the Russian Orthodox Church explained on what conditions the Russian Orthodox Church will use the Isaac's Cathedral, the transfer of which Governor Georgy Poltavchenko said the other day. The city will remain the owner of the Museum-Monitor. At the same time, the Russian Orthodox Church will receive the cathedral for free use. The church claims that the community will take over the costs of maintaining and the current restoration of the building.

Vice-governor Mikhail Mokratsov said that St. Petersburg will remain the owner of the Isaac's Cathedral, which will be transferred to the ROC, TASS reports. "As part of the implementation of the Federal Law, the Isaac's Cathedral is transferred for free use of the Moscow Patriarchate, St. Petersburg remains the owner, the legal status of the cathedral does not change," the official said.

In turn, the head of the Patriarchal Council for Culture, Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov), said that the church intends to bear the costs of the maintenance and current restoration of the Isaac's Cathedral after the transfer of the temple for its use. But it is assumed that the state will take part in global restorations.

"I think that this is exactly the case (following the example of a number of other cathedrals where the current care is conducted at the expense of the community. - Note Newsru.com ) will occur in the Isaac's Cathedral. Global restorations, huge restorations - of course, some part will carry a community, some kind of state. Current restoration and service will fall on the shoulders of the cathedral," said the bishop (quote for a quote "Interfax" ).

The day before, the editor -in -chief of the Echo of Moscow radio station Alexei Venediktov published statistics, from which it follows that the activities of the museum on the basis of the Isaac's Cathedral were profitable. So, in 2016, the museum visited 2.38 million people. Among them are only 18,400 people (or 0.78%) who attended worship. The revenue of the cathedral for the same year amounted to 466 million 813 thousand 877 rubles, of which the cost of tickets - 436 million 588 thousand 720 rubles (or 93%). The expenses of the cathedral amounted to 219 million rubles. Thus, his revenue for 2016 is 247 million rubles, or about $ 4 million.

At the same time, Archpriest Alexander Pelin, Chairman of the Department for Relations between the Church and the Society of the St. Petersburg Metropolis, said in an interview with the Russian People's Line portal that the refusal of the St. Petersburg authorities in September 2015 was a violation of the law. According to him, in the framework of the law on the transfer of property of the Church, adopted in 2009, the possibility of responding to a religious organization by a refusal to the request to return this or that object is not provided. “But the metropolitan and the leadership of the diocese did not go to court, but began to pray,” said Pelin, quoted by Fontanka .

The discussion on the transfer of the Cathedral of the Church stretched for months and took place in several stages. In the summer of 2015, the St. Petersburg diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church applied to Smolny for the transfer of the St. Isaac's Cathedral Museum for free of charge. The appeal of the head of the diocese of Metropolitan Barsonofia caused an ambiguous reaction in St. Petersburg, the opinions of the townspeople were divided, and many cultural figures spoke out against the return of the cathedral.

In early September, the Government of the Northern capital announced that it decided to leave the Isaac's Cathedral in the operational management of St. Petersburg GBUK "State Museum-Museum" Isaac's Cathedral and continue the practice of joint use of the temple by the museum and the church. The authorities explained this by the fact that in the case of the Council to the use of the St. Petersburg diocese, all expenses for its maintenance, its maintenance, Restoration and security will fall on the owner - the city of St. Petersburg.

However, in the spring of 2016, the St. Petersburg diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church and Orthodox activists again raised the question of the return of the St. Isaac's Cathedral of the Church.

In January 2017, the Governor of St. Petersburg officially confirmed that the Isaac's Cathedral decided to transfer to the use of the Russian Orthodox Church. He noted that the building will completely preserve museum functions. At the same time, sources in one of the Smolny committees argued that due to paperwork, the issue would be resolved, most likely, only by 2019.

Isaac's Cathedral is the largest Orthodox church of St. Petersburg. It was built in honor of St. Isaac Dalmatian, on the day of memory of which Peter I was born. Now he has the status of the State Museum-Monitor. The church community in the temple was revived in 1991.