On August 18, 2026, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia performed a prayer service in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, where the relics of the Venerable Grand Duke Dimitri Donskoy were discovered during restoration work.
The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church gave his blessing to place several fragments of the relics of the Blessed Prince Dimitri Donskoy, taken from the relics located in the sarcophagus near the southern wall of the cathedral, in arks for further worship of the faithful.
Upon arrival at the temple, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill blessed those who prayed with one of the arks. Then this ark was installed in the center of the cathedral. His Holiness addressed the congregation in the church.:
"Today we will pray before the relics of the holy Prince Dmitry Donskoy, the great saint of our land and the great ruler.
His name is etched in the annals of history; significant victories are associated with him, which ensured the independent existence of our country. The memory of the holy Prince Dimitri is carefully preserved in our Church, especially in the place where his holy relics rest. 
Now we will pray to the holy Prince, so that he may be an intercessor, an advocate for our land, for our Fatherland, and ask the Lord to protect the Russian land from every enemy and foe. Including from those who have been trying to subjugate and enslave our land for centuries, but who have failed. After all, there are their unofficial heirs, who still, as we know, look with jealousy at Russia, a rich, powerful country stretching from ocean to ocean. And not all of them have a friendly view of our country. 
Let us pray to the holy Prince Dimitri, that he may intercede before the Lord and ask our Savior for the protection of our Fatherland, the fortitude of our people and, most importantly, the unity of all of us. Because the unity of our people contains its invincible strength, which helped the country to pass through the most difficult historical trials.
May the Lord preserve the Russian land through his prayers! Amen!"
After the prayer service, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill approached the open sarcophagus of the saint at the southern wall of the cathedral and bowed to the venerable relics.
It is expected that the arks with the relics of the Venerable Grand Duke Dimitry Donskoy will be transferred to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and a number of other churches, where the shrines will be available for the worship of believers.
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In July 2026, emergency work was carried out during restoration work caused by sagging floor slabs and the threat of destruction of tombstones over the burial of the Grand Dukes in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.
In particular, in order to dismantle the floor slabs, the brick tombstones of the crypt near the southern wall of the cathedral were dismantled, after which the restorers discovered three solid white stone sarcophagi belonging to the graves of the Holy Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy, Grand Duke Ivan Ivanovich Krasny and Prince Dmitry Ivanovich Zhilka of Uglich.
This became new information for the curators of the Moscow Kremlin Museums, since according to the available data on the placement of graves dating from the second half of the 19th century, obtained during the installation of heating of the Arkhangelsk Cathedral, engineers had to place the sarcophagus of Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy under the sarcophagus of Grand Duke Ivan Ivanovich Krasny in order to free up space for communications. Now this information has not been confirmed.: It turned out that during the work in the 1860s, the sarcophagi of Grand Dukes Dmitry Donskoy and his father Prince Ivan the Red were raised to floor level above their grave pits. To locate the sarcophagus of Ivan the Red, the masonry of the southern wall of the cathedral was partially dismantled in order to install it in the resulting niche. Thus, both sarcophagi retained their location, and the epitaphs on the tombstones collected above them corresponded to their actual placement.
During the inspection, the experts saw that the lid of the sarcophagus of the holy Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy had two transverse cracks, and the middle part could collapse inside the sarcophagus, which would damage or destroy the remains.
The museum's curators have received the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia to carry out emergency restoration work. Archaeologists and anthropologists from the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences were involved in the work, they removed the lid of the sarcophagus and glued it together, additionally reinforcing it with metal ties. At the same time, scientists discovered the remains in funeral vestments.
The staff of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences carried out work to remove stone chips from the vestments and scientifically document the burial. According to the results of the examination, it was stated that the remains were presented in full, with the exception of the left calcaneus. The bones have no traces of postmortem injuries and are characterized by good preservation. There are areas of preserved soft tissues of the body in an unmoved state. So, the complete anatomical order has been preserved, with the exception of the part of the left foot, which was disturbed, probably during work in the 19th century, when the head of the work, Baron M.L. Bode, on July 12, 1864, a tear box was removed from the sarcophagus and transferred to the Armory for storage (in 1922, the tear box was transferred by D.D. Ivanov to the State the Historical Museum, as evidenced by the entry in the Main Inventory Book dated August 12, 1922).
Based on visual inspection and documentation of a number of signs, the age of the man at the time of death was determined to be 35-45 years old. A major healed injury sustained several years before his death was noted. The mark is located on the frontal bone, on the right, below the frontal protuberance. No other injuries were found during the visual examination (without removing the funeral clothes). Traces of significant physical exertion on the muscles of the arms and chest were revealed. The initial stages of arthrosis of the knee joint are noted, which is also caused by significant physical exertion. The reconstructed body length is slightly less than 180 cm (175-177 cm), which is a significant increase for the Middle Ages. There were no signs of wounds incompatible with life. All these characteristics are consistent with written sources and historical evidence about the life and death of the Grand Duke.
The complex of historical information, the archaeological appearance of the burial site and the results of an anthropological study have confirmed the authenticity of the remains of the holy Grand Duke Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy, a warrior prince who died of natural causes at the age of 39.
Following the report on the work carried out and the results of the study, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia blessed the relics to be examined by the Hierarchy of the Russian Church and to place several fragments in arks for the worship of believers. Fragments of the relics were taken from among those freely located in the sarcophagus.
After the restoration work is completed, the sarcophagus with the remains will be closed, and the crypt will be restored to its original state in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.