Cross of St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk

In 1161 jeweler Lazar Bogsha was blessed by Reverend Euphrosyne to make an arc-shaped altar cross. It contained a small piece of the Cross on which Christ was crucified with a drop of the Blood of the Saviour, small pieces of stones from the Holy Sepulcher, and remains of Orthodox saints. “Honorable wood is priceless,” read the inscription on the cross. During the Great Patriotic War the relic was lost never to be found. A decision to recreate the cross was made in 1992 during the celebration of the millennial anniversary of the Polotsk Eparchy and the Orthodox Church in Belarus. Nikolai Kuzmich, an enamel jeweler from Brest, took on this honorable task. On 24 August 1997 Metropolitan Filaret of Minsk and Slutsk, Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus consecrated the copy of the cross. At present, the recreated relic is kept in the Saviour and St. Euphrosyne Convent. The cross has become a spiritual symbol of Belarus, an image of the fate and glory of our long-suffering pious people. In 2003-2007, the artist worked on the creation of a shrine for the remains of Saint Euphrosyne of Polotsk.