The Cathedral Of The Descent Of The Holy Spirit Minsk, Belarus, Europe Royalty-Free Stock Image

The Cathedral of the Descent of the Holy Spirit 17th century is located in the historical center of Minsk - the Upper Town. Nowadays, it is a temple with two multi-tiered towers and a figured pediment between them, which is decorated with a mosaic of the icon of the Mother of God. The incorrupt relics of St. Sophia Slutskaya, the granddaughter of Princess Anastasia Slutskaya, are kept in the Cathedral. Another shrine of the temple is the miraculous icon of the Mother of God, called Minsk. It is believed that this is a copy of the icon, which was painted by the Evangelist Luke. According to legend, on the eve of the baptism of Russia, Prince Vladimir brought it from Byzantium to Kyiv. During the Tatar invasion in the 15th century, the decorations were removed from the icon and thrown into the Dnieper. But she survived and in 1500 the icon was found in Minsk on the Svisloch River. Now she is considered the patroness of the city.