The Life-Giving Cross in the Godenovo Village: Between and Beyond the Two Sacred Centers

Abstract

The article discusses the veneration of a carved wooden crucifix kept in the church of St. John Chrysostom in Godenovo village. The cross, according to a legend, was revealed in 1423 to shepherds who saw him descending from the sky. According to the official version, the cross is of Byzantine origin and it appeared in Russia as a sign of the transition of spiritual grace from Constantinople to Moscow. A church was erected at the site where the cross has been revealed, then demolished in 1940, and the cross was transferred to the temple of a neighboring village, where it has been kept until today. In the 1990s, a monastery was built on the site of the cross discovery. The monastery declared its rights to possessing the cross. As a result, a confrontation between the two religious centers led to "doubling of the sacred” and conflicting claims for the appropriation of sacred power, understood as an emanation of the sacred power of the original Life-Giving Cross of the Lord. The cross and its copies keep a symbolic meaning of the Russian state building. The article draws upon official publications and field data.