Procession through the center of the capital

The religious procession, led by Archbishop of Tiraspol and Dubossary Sawa, took place in Tiraspol from the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ to the chapel on the site of the old Intercession Church near the Palace of Culture on the Day of Family, Love and Fidelity. The PMR President Vadim Krasnoselsky and his wife and of the PMR Supreme Council Chairman Alexander Korshunov took part in the procession.

July 8 is the Day of Love, Family and Fidelity in the secular calendar. The Orthodox Church remembers on this day the saints whose pious life in harmony became an example of family relationships. The blessed Prince Peter and Princess Fevronia, Murom miracle workers, lived in the 13th century. According to legend, one day Peter fell ill with leprosy. No one could heal him until the future prince saw a prophetic dream that Fevronia, the beekeeper’s daughter, a peasant woman from the village of Laskovoy in Ryazan, could heal him. The prince fell in love with her and vowed to marry after recovery. He didn’t keep his promise. The disease returned, then Fevronia cured Peter again, and they got married. The boyars were against a girl from the people becoming a princess and demanded a divorce. Peter decided to renounce his reign and wealth. The couple left Murom. Soon, unrest began in the city, and it was decided to call Peter back. Peter and Fevronia returned and earned even greater love and respect from the townspeople. Peter and Fevronia took monastic vows with the names David and Euphrosyne in their declining years. They died on the same day being in different monasteries far from each other in 1228.

The Russian Church canonized Peter and Fevronia of Murom as saints approximately 300 years after their death. The married couple was glorified among the noble princes. They were honored by the church for being an example of an ideal Christian family. Archbishop of Tiraspol and Dubossary Sawa spoke about this in Tiraspol after a thanksgiving service at the chapel on the site of the destroyed Church of the Intercession. A secular holiday has been celebrated along with the church holiday in Russia and Pridnestrovie since 2008.

The priests after the service treated the participants in the procession and prayer service to ice cream. An open screening of a television film on Orthodox themes was held in the small hall of the Tiraspol cinema.