After the liturgy, the Patriarch conferred the highest decoration of the Orthodox Church – the Order of Glory and Honour, I degree – on Svetlana Medvedeva, who is a member of the Naval Cathedral Public Board of Trustees.
The Naval Cathedral of Saint Nicholas in Kronstadt is the main shrine of the Russian Navy. The cathedral was founded in 1902 by decree of Emperor Nicholas II in honour of the 200th anniversary of the Russian Navy. In 1929 it was closed and desecrated.
In 2009, at Patriarch Kirill’s initiative, a board of trustees was established to restore the cathedral.
It is expected that the cathedral will be fully restored in time for the 100th anniversary of its first consecration, which will be celebrated in 2013.