The ROC will not receive Isaac: the cathedral will remain the property of the city. "You can't mix everything together": how St. Isaac's Cathedral will change in the event of a transfer to the Russian Orthodox Church

Why Isaac's Cathedral should be handed over to the Russian Orthodox Church and why this should not be done - the head of the pilgrimage department of the St. Petersburg diocese Vladimir Dervenev and the deputy of the St. Petersburg ZakSa Boris Vishnevsky discussed in the Fontanka studio.

Believers complain that they are not allowed to hold full-fledged divine services in St. Isaac's Cathedral, but they do not mind if the museum remains at the temple - and will earn money to maintain the building. The main argument of opponents of the transfer is that the museum's revenues will inevitably fall, and the maintenance of the church will have to be paid for by the city budget (that is, all taxpayers).

"Fontanka" wrote that in Smolny it has been unofficially said for a long time that the governor had already instructed to prepare a positive response for the St. Petersburg metropolitanate, about which the director of the St. Isaac's Cathedral museum Nikolai Burov was notified. The museum worker himself, however, before the New Year actively refused to comment on the rumors. But most of the interlocutors spoke of the transfer as a settled matter, without even remembering Georgy Poltavchenko's refusal to do so.

In the summer of 2015, the St. Petersburg Diocese appealed to the city government with a request to hand over St. Isaac's Cathedral to it, but was refused. The city authorities decided to continue the practice of joint use of the temple by the museum and the church, which has existed for more than 20 years. In the summer of 2016, it became known that the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga Varsonofy sent a letter to the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation with a request to transfer the Church and the Savior on Spilled Blood, which is part of the Isaac's Cathedral museum complex.

Vishnevsky:- Historical fact: St. Isaac's Cathedral was never transferred to the church, it was built at the expense of the treasury Russian Empire, was administered by the Ministry of the Imperial Court. And it has always been state property. There is no reason to be worried about the current situation. Services are held in the cathedral. The management of the St. Isaac's Cathedral museum does not create any obstacles for them.

Dervenev:- My opponent distorted. The cathedral certainly belonged to the church. It was on the balance sheet of the state - the administration for the sovereign temples was specially created. Because some churches could not be supported by the parishes of natural reasons, that is, they were not parish. This administration included St. Isaac's Cathedral and the house churches of the imperial and grand ducal residences. They were supported by the state. Isaac was included in the number of such temples as a symbol of the empire. Moreover, all priests were civil servants and received a salary.

Vishnevsky:- I would ask you to be more careful about juggling. The church was part of the state during the time of the Russian Empire. And today the current ROC does not even have the legal right of succession to demand the return of the cathedral. All talk about restitution is based on the fact that the church has undergone repression from the Bolsheviks. But you probably know better than me who the current leadership of the Moscow Patriarchate comes from. From Metropolitan Sergius of Starogorodsky, who, by the way, at one time supported that very godless government and denounced its enemies. If you raise the question of returning the churches, then you may find competitors who took a slightly different position in relation to the Bolshevik government. And you haven't answered my simple question. Services are underway. The director of the museum, Nikolai Burov, does not interfere with them. What's stopping you? Let's take the path of agreement. I submitted to the office of the Legislative Assembly a bill on amendments to federal law No. 327 on the transfer of property to the church. If we are talking about museums that are state property, then they should not be transferred to anyone, but an encumbrance should be imposed on them: an agreement should be concluded so that services can be held in them. And that's enough.

Dervenev:- You have said so much, and all this has little to do with St. Isaac's Cathedral. When a lady in the uniform of a minister of the St. Isaac's Cathedral passes through the altar during a service, this is unacceptable for a believer. There is too little temple in the cathedral today. There is too little prayer. St. Isaac's Cathedral is closed on Wednesday even if it falls on that day religious holiday... The services that exist are kept in a truncated form. And all of them have been agreed with the management of the museum. And if some museum events are held in the museum, the evening services are canceled. The museum should be at the temple, and not as it is now - the temple at the museum. There is a federal law according to which churches must be handed over to believers. And this law must be fulfilled.

Vishnevsky:- I know this law quite well. And it’s not written like that. It says that a religious organization has the right to make such a request. And then the authority decides whether to grant this request or not. Draws up a transfer plan and considers this issue within six years. The law does not automatically return anything you ask for. In September 2015, the transfer of the Church of St. Isaac's Cathedral was already refused, including for economic reasons. And they, in my opinion, are decisive here. Instead of restoring destroyed temples, of which there are thousands across the country, the church wants to get a thriving museum. And in this case she cares not about the soul, but about the interests of the corporation.

Reference: St. Isaac's Cathedral is one of the most popular museums in St. Petersburg. In 2016 alone, 3.9 million tourists visited it. The museum earned more than 800 million rubles. These funds were used to fully pay for the restoration of the cathedral.

Dervenev:- Who told you that the diocese is against this cathedral having a museum? If there is a museum there, if it receives tourists, no one is against it. Services that would be conducted there regularly, and not furtively in the left aisle, but as befits - in the main cathedral of the empire, would help attract tourists. Restoration, warmth and light - all this should be, as it was a hundred years ago, not only from the state treasury, but also from the cathedral's revenues. I am sure that from attracting tourists there will be funds both for the maintenance of the cathedral and for restoration.

Vishnevsky:- I understood perfectly well that as soon as it comes to the economic component, you will begin to "float." Let's imagine that the cathedral was handed over to the diocese. Then you, apparently, assume that the city will contain the federal architectural monument. The burden of maintenance will be borne by the taxpayers. As a taxpayer, I am ready to pay money for the maintenance of the museum and the preservation of the monument. But I do not agree to pay for the maintenance of the temple. Let's conduct an experiment: we will offer the believers to pay a certain fee for the maintenance of the temple. And we'll see how many there really are. If the service is being conducted, as you say, in a corner, let's change the agreement with the museum management so that the services are carried out in the required volume.

Dervenev:- The greatest cathedrals combine both a temple and a museum. People who come to the temple to pray do not have to pay money for it. And those who come with guides should. And the tour guides must be certified, and not by some secular organization. I attended excursions in St. Isaac's Cathedral. There is no mention that this is the temple of God. It speaks only of the building.

Who is stopping us from entering the Kazan Cathedral now, looking at this splendor, bowing to the grave of Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov? Any competent excursion, not theomachic, as in St. Isaac's Cathedral, has a great missionary effect.

Vishnevsky:- If the transfer of the cathedral takes place, the income will fall sharply. A huge number of people will come to the temple, using the right of free access, and look at it. They won't even need guided tours. Some time will pass, and Governor Georgy Sergeevich Poltavchenko will come to our Legislative Assembly and say: you will not allow St. Isaac's Cathedral to collapse - allocate money for its restoration. And it’s sad that I, an unbelieving person, have to remind you of the Epistle to the Corinthians: “You are the temple of God, and God is not in the temple, but in the heart of man”.

Dervenev:- Save you, Lord, for moralizing. The city will not lose St. Isaac's Cathedral, but will acquire it. The museum will continue to exist as it always has. It is a myth that the church is a rich organization. I saw Popov in "wheelbarrows" only when Bishop Mitrofan of Gatchina and Luga, picking up a cassock, rolls a wheelbarrow on subbotniks. And there are many other temples that have not yet been transferred. For example, the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist on Lesnoy, which now has a fitness center with a swimming pool. A non-believer cannot understand what prayer is in a place of prayer, such as St. Isaac's Cathedral. Why not make an application to the Ministry of Culture so that part of the costs will be borne by it, because this is a monument not of city, but of federal significance?

Vishnevsky:- By a special decision of the government of the Russian Federation, it was transferred to the ownership of the government of St. Petersburg. And all decisions about his fate are made by the government of St. Petersburg. These are legal norms.

Dervenev:- Yes, there are norms, but besides the norms, there are agreements.

Vishnevsky:- When it comes to such things, the issue is decided not by agreement, but by law.

Dervenev:- All churches should be with believers.

While an emotional discussion was going on on the air of Fontanka between the deputy of the Legislative Assembly and the head of the diocese's pilgrimage department, the studio phone was literally torn apart by calls from believers who wanted to support the idea of ​​transferring St. Isaac's Cathedral to the church. As the resident of St. Petersburg Alexander explained, believers are sure that Isaac attracts tourists primarily as a temple, and not as a museum. Information that the channel [Fontanka.Offis] is discussing the topic of the transfer of the cathedral quickly spread among the faithful. “A knowledgeable person called me and said that there would be such a program,” Alexander admitted. The rest of the callers said that they had received some kind of SMS mailing.

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Information that Isaac may leave the Russian Orthodox Church appeared in last days of the outgoing 2016 and excited the city. Although back in the fall of 2015, the head of the city firmly refused to transfer Isaac to Metropolitan Barsanuphius, motivating it by the fact that he brings profit to the city.

And on January 10, the words of the governor sound like a bolt from the blue: Orthodox Church resolved, but the building will fully preserve museum functions ”. They say that Poltavchenko agreed to hand over the cathedral during Patriarch Kirill's visit to St. Petersburg at the end of December.

Residents of the city, in turn, fear that in the event of the transfer of St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church, a number of educational, cultural and educational programs will be closed.

Accounts - to the city, profits - to churches

“Today there is no reason to hand over St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church,” says Reznik. - Firstly, it never belonged to the church, and the law on the return of church buildings, to which some refer, does not work here. Secondly, from the point of view of conducting divine services in the cathedral, the interests of the church are in no way infringed upon. Why, then, the common property, one of the symbols of St. Petersburg, should suddenly go under the wing of one, albeit respected, organization? Moreover, the Russian Orthodox Church offers us an interesting format, in which the city will pay millions for the maintenance of the cathedral, and all the income received from its operation will go into the “pocket” of the church.

Today the cathedral contains itself. Photo: AiF / Ksenia Matveeva

What funds will be spent on the restoration is a big question. See the Kazan Cathedral belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church What was it turned into after restoration? I would not want such a fate for Isaac! Also, do not forget that in the event of a transfer, 400 employees of the museum complex will simply end up on the street. I expect that Governor Poltavchenko will answer the question, has his position changed? In 2015, literally with the help of a spy special operation, I managed to find out about the claims of the church on St. Isaac's Cathedral. Such issues should not be resolved on the quiet. "

Serious situation

A more concrete position of Smolny awaits director of St. Isaac's Cathedral Nikolai Burov.

“This story is 150 years old, from time to time it pops up and causes a wide public response,” he commented on the situation. - However, some round will be the last, and I have reason to believe that now the situation is quite serious. But I, as the head of the institution, the hired manager, must have a written order. It should be borne in mind that St. Isaac's Cathedral today is one of the most successful cultural institutions not only in St. Petersburg, but also in the country. In 2016, we reached the mark of 3 million 900 thousand visitors and earned more than 800 million rubles. All of them will be spent on the maintenance and restoration of the memorial museum. For the last few decades we have been supporting ourselves, which is a rarity for cultural institutions ”.

Meanwhile, a petition with a request to prevent the transfer of St. Isaac's Cathedral and the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood to the Russian Orthodox Church on the Internet has already been signed by about 100 thousand citizens. Its creators believe that otherwise the educational and educational component of the institutions will be completely eliminated, since it is unlikely that the ROC will conduct excursions, organize various exhibitions and concerts of classical music.

At the same time, the transfer of the cathedral was supported by State Duma Deputy Vitaly Milonov... He called his opponents "demons" and "liberal cockerels."

“We want the inscription on St. Isaac's Cathedral to come true. Temple of Prayer. Go to the Vatican, write a protest, demand state property for the Cathedral of St. Peter, ”said the parliamentarian.

Let us recall that last year the Smolny Cathedral officially ceased to be a museum object and became the property of the church.

Who has not heard about St. Isaac's Cathedral -the largest Orthodox church,onefrom the symbols of St. Petersburg? It was built by the architect Auguste Montferrand, it took a very long time, from 1818 to 1858. Taking into account the local characteristics of the soil, more than ten thousand piles were driven into the base of the foundation. Now this method of soil compaction is quite common, but at that time it made a huge impression on the inhabitants of the city. Granite for the columns of St. Isaac's Cathedral was mined in quarries on the coast of the Gulf of Finland, near Vyborg. Nikolai Bestuzhev wrote about the transportation of these granite monoliths:

"They got down to business with their usual mechanics: they tied the ship more tightly to the shore - put trails, logs, boards, wrapped the ropes, crossed themselves - shouted a loud hurray! - and the proud colossus obediently rolled from the ship to the shore, and rolling past Peter, who, seemed to bless his sons with his hand, lay down humbly at the foot of St. Isaac's Church. "

Now St. Isaac's Cathedral is an architectural monument, under the jurisdiction of the State Museum of the same name "St. Isaac's Cathedral", has been functioning as a museum since 1948. Colonnade of the drum of St. Isaac's Cathedral is one of the most attractive places for tourists. There is an observation deck on the dome, from where a stunning panorama of the central part of St. Petersburg opens from a height of 43 meters.

The church consistently demanded that the cathedral be returned to its fold. After repeated requests and refusals in January 2017, the Governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko nevertheless said that the issue of transferring St. Isaac's Cathedral to the use of the Russian Orthodox Church had been resolved, but the building would fully retain its museum and educational function. An order was published on the website of the city committee of property relations of St. Petersburg, according to which St. Isaac's Cathedral should be transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church no later than the first half of 2019. Until March 1, 2017, the Smolny and the budgetary institution the State Museum-Monument "St. Isaac's Cathedral" should, I quote: "determine the possibility of removing the object from the operational management of the institution without providing the institution with premises that support its activities in return." Meanwhile, the St. Petersburg Union of Museum Workers regarded the transfer of St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church as liquidation of the museum, about 160 of its employees could lose their jobs. Protests, rallies, signature collection began ...

People’s concern is natural, because this is not just a private Orthodox church, but about the largest museum. This fact requires taking into account the interests of both believers and many tourists, the museum community and just caring people. Therefore, one should not rush to resolve this issue and even less politicize it. It is necessary to act very carefully, it is imperative - taking into account the opinion of the Petersburgers themselves. At the same time, as reminded by the head of "Fair Russia" S.M. Mironov, on November 19, 2010, the State Duma adopted the federal law"On the transfer to religious organizations of religious property located in the state or municipal property". Therefore, the transfer of the cathedral for the free use of the ROC is made on a legal basis.

At the same time, there is a risk that the transfer of the cathedral into the hands of the church will put an end to the work of one of the most successful museums in Russia. In 2016, the St. Isaac's Cathedral Museum earned 800 million rubles and received about 4 million visitors. The proceeds went to both his own restoration and restoration work in other churches in the city. The transfer of the cathedral was sanctioned by the Governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko after Patriarch Kirill personally addressed him with this request, without the consent of Vladimir Putin.

Probably, it was worth bringing the question of the fate of the cathedral to public discussion, during which all issues would be worked out in detail and clarified. For example, will free access to the temple, including the cathedral's colonnade, remain? What will happen to the unique museum collection? What will happen to the museum staff? If a clear solution had been worked out in advance on all these issues, adequately taking into account the interests of all parties, there would have been no conflict.

The Political Culture Foundation conducted a survey on Isaac in St. Petersburg in February. The transfer of the cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church is supported by 17.8% of the respondents, 57.1% of the respondents are against it, and 42% said that they are “categorically against”. Like this. I personally don't like this idea either. After all, Russia is a secular state. Many buildings across the country have been transferred to the church enough. Isn't it better for the Russian Orthodox Church to build a new church somewhere in St. Petersburg? And let Isaac's Cathedral remain a museum ...

An initiative group of opponents of the transfer of St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church has prepared an application for a referendum on the status of the temple. The defenders of the museum suggest asking the townspeople the following question:

“Do you agree that St. Isaac's Cathedral, Savior on Spilled Blood, Peter and Paul Cathedral belonging to the monuments of history and culture of federal significance and belonging to St. Petersburg should be assigned on the basis of the operational management of state museums with the possibility of holding religious rites there and ceremonies? "

Those. whether to leave everything as it is, not to transfer Isaac to the Russian Orthodox Church? I will ask this question to users of Maxspark and myself. Divine services are now held in the cathedral.

“Do you agree that St. Isaac's Cathedral, Savior on Spilled Blood, Peter and Paul Cathedral belonging to the monuments of history and culture of federal significance and belonging to St. Petersburg should be assigned on the basis of the operational management of state museums, if it is possible to hold religious rites in them and ceremonies? "

Image copyright Pimenov Roman / TASS

On the eve of the presidential election, the church and authorities froze the transfer of St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). The transfer decision sparked protests in early 2017, and so far the museum and the church have agreed only to increase the number of church services.

In early January 2017, the governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko dumbfounded the townspeople with an unexpected decision: St. Isaac's Cathedral, one of the city's main attractions, will be donated to the church for free use.

• Isaac became the battlefield for secular Petersburg
• The head of the Russian Orthodox Church spoke about the evil thoughts of the opponents of the transfer of Isaac

The decision provoked protests from the townspeople and a public discussion about the need to give the church a museum, which brings hundreds of millions of rubles to the city budget. The ROC's appeal was indirectly supported by President Vladimir Putin, noting that Isaac was originally built as a temple, and urging not to politicize this topic.

However, almost a year later, the cathedral still belongs to the city. The discussion about this is over, the question of transferring Isaac is not worth it now, interlocutors close to the presidential administration, an interlocutor in the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church and in the leadership of the museum, told the BBC Russian Service.

Why did the authorities and the church freeze the issue, which they called already resolved?

No application - no problem

The church itself insisted on the transfer of Isaac for the use of the ROC. The church leadership referred to the 2010 law on the transfer of religious objects. Under this law, a religious organization itself must send an official request to the authorities asking them to give them a particular building that they consider to be religious.

It is this request that the church has not yet sent.

The press service of the St. Petersburg administration told the BBC that as of December 6, 2017, the Russian Orthodox Church had not received an application from the Russian Orthodox Church. The director of St. Isaac's Cathedral, Yuri Mudrov, told the BBC that he did not know anything about the application. The press secretary of the museum Igor Stakheev also said that filing an application in the near future "was not foreseen and is not expected."

Without an official appeal from the church, no one can begin the transfer of the cathedral. "There is no other way [to transfer St. Isaac's Cathedral]," Governor Poltavchenko's press service told the BBC's Russian service.

IN this moment there is no more time for the subject of the application for Isaac, a source in church circles who asked for anonymity told the BBC. Everyone has long forgotten about the cathedral, and this topic is no longer discussed, confirmed a BBC source close to the presidential administration (he also asked for anonymity, since he was not authorized to comment on this issue).

"There has been a lull," the museum's press secretary replied to the question of whether the process of transferring the museum to the church can be called suspended.

• Activists disputed the transfer of St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church in court
• Museum workers asked Putin to suspend the transfer of Isaac to the Russian Orthodox Church
• ROC responded to Piotrovsky's call to postpone the transfer of Isaac

The exact date when Isaac should have been handed over to the church was not announced. Representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church talked about the transfer by Easter or by the end of 2017. Back in January, the St. Petersburg Property Committee published a message on its website stating that all transfer activities should be completed by March 2019. But a year later, the press service of the committee, in response to a request from the BBC, wrote that no deadlines had been set for filing an application.

At the end of September, the question of when the cathedral will be handed over was commented on by Poltavchenko in an interview with Novaya Gazeta - St. Petersburg: "We will wait. Time is ticking. I have no doubts. When it will be, I am not ready to say."

New agreements

Church representatives found it difficult to tell the BBC why they decided not to send a request for the transfer of Isaac. The representative of the St. Petersburg diocese, Natalya Rodomanova, refused to comment on Isaac, let us explain that "any our comment on this topic will be used against us."

Supervisor legal service The Russian Orthodox Church Abbess Xenia (Chernega), who was supposed to prepare an application for the transfer of Isaac to the administration of St. Petersburg, refused to speak with the Russian service of the BBC.

So far, both Poltavchenko and church representatives argue that someday the transfer of the cathedral to the Church will still happen.

"So far we are not submitting a petition to return. Now the director has been changed there. But I want more services in this cathedral and the entrance to the temple becomes free for the people. So far we have not been able to achieve what we want. Although, I think, this will happen in the near future." According to the law, the cathedral will be returned to the church, "Metropolitan Varsonofy of St. Petersburg and Ladoga said in August during his visit to Saransk. He also did not talk about the reasons for the prolonged pause.

In the museum itself, the absence of an application is explained by the fact that new agreements were reached between the church and the leadership of Isaac, which were arranged by both parties. A spokesman for the museum said that these agreements concern the transfer of services on holidays from the side aisle (the premises of the cathedral) to the central one.

In the summer, the director of the museum Mudrov spoke about the increase in the number of services in the central part of the cathedral in an interview with Interfax. According to him, services in the central part of the church will be held on the twelve (12 holidays) and cathedral (about 200 days a year) holidays. Based on the schedule of services, in December, with the exception of three days, there will be two services a day.

About the new agreements between the Church and the Museum in an interview with the BBC Russian Service: "St. Isaac's Cathedral still functions as a museum, there is an updated agreement between the Church and Isaac, and so far everything is functioning as it should."

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First, everything is discussed with the authorities

Another reason for the absence of an application is the upcoming presidential elections in Russia, believes the interlocutor of the BBC Russian Service in the museum management (asked for anonymity, since he cannot officially comment on this issue). "Maybe they will submit an application, but after the elections, now they simply do not want to disturb the public," he says.

According to him, the church and the city leadership saw that "both believers and unbelievers" Petersburgers oppose the transfer of the cathedral to the church. "The church did not take the next step, because they simply do not submit an application, at first everything is discussed with the authorities," the source reflects.

The version that the Russian Orthodox Church is not submitting an application because of protests against the transfer of the cathedral is also supported by the deputy of the legislative assembly of St. Petersburg, Boris Vishnevsky. "The application did not happen due to massive civil resistance," he said.

The leadership of the Kremlin administration was initially dissatisfied with the form in which the residents of St. Petersburg were announced about the decision on Isaac, the media wrote this year: it was assumed that Poltavchenko would hold a public discussion, and after that he would say about the decision. Such a drastic form could negatively affect the results of the elections scheduled for March 2018.

According to sociological polls conducted in February, two or three residents of St. Petersburg opposed the transfer of the Church of St. Isaac's Cathedral, the TV channel "Rain" reported.

"The church also has no guarantees from the federal authorities that their application will be satisfied," Vishnevsky said. He also noted that the legislation prohibits the transfer of museum objects to religious organizations, of which there are more than 20 thousand in St. Isaac's Cathedral, and some of them are physically inseparable from the cathedral - columns, frescoes and other architectural objects.

Layoffs and expectations

Since January 2017, when Poltavchenko announced that the museum would be transferred to the church, St. Isaac's Cathedral has had two directors. In April, Nikolai Burov left, who had headed the cathedral since 2008 and was an active opponent of the transfer of the museum to the Russian Orthodox Church. And two weeks after the appointment, Irada Vovnenko, who had previously been involved in public relations at the museum, left the post.

As a result, in June, Mudrov began to lead Isaak, who had previously worked at the Museum of the History of Religions and the St. Petersburg Cultural Foundation.

With the arrival of Mudrov, the museum staff began to talk about the beginning of preparations for the transfer of the cathedral to the church. So, at the end of the summer from Isaac, with whom the management of the museum did not renew contracts or agreed to dismiss by mutual consent. Then the museum staff associated the redundancies in the staff with the speedy transfer of Isaac to the Russian Orthodox Church.

A source of the BBC Russian Service in the museum's management said that "reductions" are still taking place - several people are leaving a month. Before the arrival of Mudrov, about 400 people worked in the museum.

The news of the possible transfer of the cathedral was negatively perceived by the residents of St. Petersburg, in connection with which they repeatedly organized rallies and protests near Isaac. More than 200,000 people signed an online petition against the transfer of the cathedral to the church.

At the same time, Orthodox activists, on the contrary, organized actions for the transfer of St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church. In February, a religious procession was held around Isaak, in which members of the Night Wolves bike club and Cossacks took part. And in April, the procession around the cathedral was held by children - students of Sunday schools.

On January 10, the Governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko announced that St. Isaac's Cathedral would be transferred to the use and maintenance of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). However, he added that the temple will retain museum functions. The decision caused a mixed reaction from the public, some experts fear that new status will restrict the access of tourists to it.

We tried to figure out why so many controversies arose around the transfer of the church to the Russian Orthodox Church.

Who is in charge of the cathedral now?

St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg has been a museum since 1931. The building is owned by the city and is managed by the St. Petersburg State budgetary institution culture "State Museum-Monument" St. Isaac's Cathedral ".

In 1971, the museum includes the Church of the Resurrection of Christ (Savior on Spilled Blood), in 1984 - a temple in the name of St. Sampson the Stranger, and in 2004 - the Smolny Cathedral concert and exhibition hall.

If there is a museum, what does the Russian Orthodox Church have to do with it?

On June 17, 1990, Patriarch Alexy II held the first divine service in the church after it was closed in 1928.

A year later, the church community was registered, which until recently performed divine services in agreement with the museum's management. During divine services, the entrance to the temple is free.

In the summer of 2015, the St. Petersburg diocese appealed to the governor of the city, Georgy Poltavchenko, with a request to transfer St. Isaac's Cathedral to her for free use. At the same time, the diocese promised not to impose restrictions on visiting the cathedral and to make the entrance free.

The appeal also concerned the buildings of the "Smolny Monastery" ensemble, which house the faculties of the St. state university, as well as the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood and the Sampson Cathedral.

Then the city authorities refused the ROC's request. In April 2016, Metropolitan Varsonofy of St. Petersburg and Ladoga appealed to Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev with a repeated request to transfer the cathedral to the Church.

Does the ROC have grounds for such requests?

The basis is the law "On the Transfer of State or Municipal Property of Religious Purpose to Religious Organizations", signed by the President in 2010.

According to the document, religious organizations, including the Russian Orthodox Church, received the right to return to their ownership or free use of the churches that were closed after the October Revolution of 1917. Including those in which museums were later opened.

If everything is legal, what is the problem?

Some deputies of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, the head of the Committee for Culture of St. Petersburg, Konstantin Sukhenko, and the director of the museum, Nikolai Burov, spoke out against the transfer of the cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church.

How much does restoration cost

The city authorities allocated 93 million rubles for the restoration of the colonnade of the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg in 2015.

Continuation

The museum authorities and other opponents of the transfer of the temple indicate that the museum is currently supporting itself at its own expense. So, in 2015, the museum's revenue amounted to 728 million rubles. Its closure and the introduction of free admission will lead to the fact that all expenses for the restoration of the cathedral may fall on the city budget to the detriment of others, including social programs.

If the diocese keeps the paid entrance and uses the proceeds for restoration, the budget will still lack funds due to the peculiarities of taxation of religious organizations.

Also, if the museum is closed, about 400 employees will remain unemployed. According to the director of the museum, Nikolai Burov, the Church will not support programs for the blind, the children's department of the museum.

Among other objections to the transfer of the cathedral is that its building never belonged directly to the Church, had a special status and was not a parish building. After consecration in 1858 and until 1883, the building was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Imperial Court, from 1883 to 1917 - the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Empire. They carried out all the economic management of the cathedral. Funds for the maintenance of the temple were allocated by the State Treasury according to the estimates of the above ministries. The synod paid only the salaries of the junior priests of the cathedral.

Also, critics of the possible transfer pointed out that the number of parishioners is currently less than 1% of the total visitors to the cathedral.

However, according to the 2010 law, none of the above objections is an obstacle to the transfer of St. Isaac's Cathedral to the management of the Church.

And what do they think about this in the ROC?

Representatives of the St. Petersburg Metropolitanate emphasize that "churches built for believers should belong to believers." The Russian Orthodox Church declares that the main purpose of St. Isaac's Cathedral must be restored. At the same time, the funds received from the parish, according to representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, should be enough for the maintenance of the monument.

The loudest cases of the return of ROC churches in the past 10 years

The material was prepared with the participation of "TASS-Dossier"