The document provides an overview of Russian Orthodox church architecture and history over many centuries, from the establishment of Christianity in Kievan Rus in the 10th century to modern reconstructions of churches. It describes the architectural styles and historical significance of several iconic Russian churches and cathedrals located across the country, including structures in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yaroslavl, and Kazan. The text also provides biographical details on important religious figures like Sts. Cyril and Methodius and Princess St. Anna of Kashin.

1. Musik: Russian dance Mik Bath with the Londoner Philharmonic Orchestra The Russian Orthodox Church is more than one thousand years old. According to tradition, St. Andrew the First Called, while preaching the gospel, stopped at the Kievan hills to bless the future city of Kiev. The fact that Russia had among her neighbors a powerful Christian state, the Byzantine Empire, very much contributed to the spread of Christianity in it. The south of Russia was blessed with the work of Sts Cyril and Methodius Equal to the Apostles, the Illuminators of the Slavs. In 954 Princess Olga of Kiev was baptized. All this paved the way for the greatest events in the history of the Russian people, namely, the baptism of Prince Vladimir In the pre-Tartar period of its history The Russian Church was one of the metropolitanates of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The metropolitan at the head of the Church was appointed by the Patriarchate of Constantinople from among the Greeks, but in 1051 Russian-born Metropolitan Illarion, one of the most educated men of his time, was installed to the primatial see.

2. Moskau Cathedral of the Archangel Michael (Arkhangelskiy sobor) was built in 1505-08 as the burial place for the rulers of Muscovii. In the spirit of the Italian Renaissance it has four heavy square pillars take up much of the dimly lit interior, which is covered in frescoes. Around the walls and pillars cluster the tombs of Russia’s rulers from Grand Duke Ivan I to Tsar Ivan V.

4. St. Petersburg Smolny Cathedral was originally intended to be the central church of a monastery, built to house the daughter of Peter the Great, Elizabeth, after she was disallowed to take the throne and opted instead to become a nun. However, as soon as her Imperial predecessor was overthrown during a coup, carried out by the royal guards, Elizabeth decided to forget the whole idea of a stern monastic life and happily accepted the offer of the Russian throne.

5. Moskau The Cathedral of Christ the Savior - magnificent replica of the 19th century church constructed to commemorate Russia's victory over the French in the Napoleonic Wars, which was demolished on Stalin's orders in the 1930s but built a new in the 1990s to mark Moscow's 850th birthday.

6. St. Lazarus Church : The present five-domed Church has an exterior typical of many seventeenth-century Churches. It has a cube-shaped main body with three apses, differently designed portals on each wall, a rich cornice of horseshoe-shaped kokoshniks, and a tiling band

7. Right : Typical churches in Suzdal. Mostly,"Summer church" and "Winter church" stand together as a couple.This is Suzdal church architecture style. In this photo,left is summer church and right is winter church.

8. Rostow am Don (Nordkaukasus) The Resurrection Chapel (Cathedral Square) Four-dome belfry with fifteen famous Rostov bells cast in the XVII-XIX centuries, with the biggest bell "Sisoy" weighing 2,000 pounds .

9. Danilow - Oblast Jaroslawl Kazan Cathedral is a name of several Russian churches dedicated to Our Lady of Kazan, an icon that the Russian Orthodox Church probably venerates the most. Die Kasaner Kathedrale von Danilow

10. Anna ~ Oblast Woronesch

11. Saint Anna of Kashin: Anna was a daughter of Prince Dmitry Borisovich of Rostov and a great-granddaughter of Prince Vasily of Rostov. From her earliest years, Anna was brought up strictly Christian. She was taught the virtues of humbleness and obedience. The name of the Princess Anna was forgotten for many centuries. It was during the 1611 siege of Kashin by Lithuanian troops that Anna appeared to Gerasim, Sexton of the Dormition Cathedral, and it is said that she prayed to the Saviour and Our Lady for the deliverance of her city from the foreigners. Her relics were reported to work miracles. The synod of the Russian Orthodox Church convened in 1649 and declared her relics worthy of a universal homage. The princess was glorified as a saint. Twenty-eight years later, Patriarch Joachim addressed the Moscow Synod with a suggestion to decanonize her because of the uncommon veneration and esteem for Anna among the Old Believers. It was traditionally thought the Old Believers chose Anna as their palladium because the princess was represented on icons as making the Sign of the Cross with two fingers, as the Old Believers practiced, rather than with three, as official church policy required after Patriarch Nikon in 1656. However, writings used by the Old Believers show that one of the reasons they venerated her so highly was that her incorrupt body, on display, showed her hand in the two-fingered Sign of the Cross favoured by the Old Believers, vindicating their stance. Despite numerous efforts on the part of the Church authorities to "correct" the situation, her hand always went back to the same two-fingered position. In response, Patriarch Joachim removed the relics of Anna from public view. According to a later study, however, the trigger for her decanonization was a life of Saint Anna, written by Saint Ignatius of the Solovki, one of the notorious leaders of the Raskol who preached self-immolations. It was not until 12 June 1909 that the Russian Orthodox Church glorified Anna again and sanctioned a general celebration of her cult. That year a monastic community was dedicated to her in Grozny

12. Istra – Oblast Moskau Oblast = deutsch wörtlich - Gebiet The New Jerusalem Monastery was founded in 1656 by Patriarch Nikon as a patriarchal residence in the outskirts of Moscow. The monastery took its name from the New Jerusalem. This site was chosen for its resemblance to the Holy Land.

13. Kazan ~ Republik Tatarstan Magnificent mosque Kul Sharif in city of Kazan. One of the most beautiful and most northern mosques of the world. It is constructed by thousand-year anniversary of city of Kazan.