On September 23, the Church commemorates Holy Hierarch Arseniy of Uralsk. Precisely ten years ago, on this day, the solemn uncovering of the relics of the Holy Hierarch took place in Uralsk.
Metropolitan Korniliy met that day in Bezvodnoye. This village of the Nizhny Novgorod region is directly related to the name of Holy Hierarch Arseniy. The church dedicated to the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, the witness of his labours and prayers, celebrates its 135th anniversary this year. It was a place for the training of Old Believer teachers: they came here for several months to undergo a practical and theoretical course under the guidance of the hieromonk Arseniy.
Monk Arseniy laboured in Bezvodnoye for about ten years before accepting the episcopal dignity. It is believed that he brought the printing house here from the Manuilovsky monastery in Romania and was engaged in book printing here. The printing house was transported, but the flood prevented the start of printing, and the printing house had to be transported to Nizhny Novgorod. Later the printing house returned to Bezvodnoye. With his characteristic courage and energy, the Holy Hierarch published books in defense of Orthodoxy under the conditions of strict surveillance by the missionaries of the Synod.
At the end of the Liturgy, Metropolitan Korniliy shared with the guests of the celebration his memories of ten years ago:
I thank God for letting me see this great miracle. The Lord has glorified His saint with incorruption. There was dampness at his burial place, and the coffin was flooded with water. The metal on the coffin decayed, but the holy body remained unharmed.
The Primate of the Church sincerely thanked the rector of this church, Fr. Alexey Antyushin, the chairman of the community and everyone who helped to revive the church in Bezvodnoye from the ruins.
On the occasion of the anniversary date, a concert of spiritual chants was held in the church. Christians of the Bezvodnoye and Nizhny Novgorod parishes sang songs about the life and works of Holy Hierarch Arseniy and the fate of the church of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God.
