A replica of the Godenovo Cross has been brought to Kyrgyzstan, allowing Orthodox believers in the country to personally venerate one of the revered relics. The miniature version of the cross arrived in the country last week, as reported by the press service of the Kyrgyzstan Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The recently concluded multi-day All-Russian cross procession in Moscow commemorated the 600th anniversary of the holy relic. The replica of the Godenovo Cross traversed 27 cities in Russia and Belarus, from north to south (from Murmansk to Sevastopol) and from west to east (from Brest to Vladivostok). Following the conclusion of the cross procession, the sacred relic was placed in the Church of St. Nicholas Mirlikiysky in Moscow's Novaya Sloboda.

The consecrated replica represents the cross revealed near the village of Godenovo 600 years ago. The Godenovo Cross is one of the most famous miraculous crosses in the world. On June 11, 1423, it miraculously appeared within the boundaries of Rostov the Great.

In 1506, the wooden church housing the cross caught fire. There was no way to remove the relic from the burning building. However, when the fire subsided, grieving Orthodox believers saw on the ashes... the Cross, undamaged in any way!

In 1940, residents near the Nikol'sky cemetery of the village of Godenovo, risking arrest, relocated the relic to their area and later placed it in the Church of St. John Chrysostom. Since the early 1990s, the church has become a dependency of the Nikolaev Women's Monastery, and nuns have settled there. In the early 2000s, restorers from the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg were able to restore the Cross to its almost pristine condition: they removed layers of oil that densely covered the Crucifixion, revealing authentic images of the Virgin Mary and St. John the Theologian on either side of Christ, as well as angels.