Alpha Centauri 2

Community => Recreation Commons => Destination: Alpha Centauri => Topic started by: Buster's Uncle on April 12, 2017, 05:19:10 pm

Title: Russian cosmonaut says he has taken relics of saint to space
Post by: Buster's Uncle on April 12, 2017, 05:19:10 pm

Russian cosmonaut says he has taken relics of saint to space
Associated Press  April 12, 2017


(https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/nCuBmXnrxU.1d6sadD2A0g--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjtzbT0xO3c9MTI4MDtoPTk2MDtpbD1wbGFuZQ--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/5675bb02c21b45f98a54e9d41403f349.jpg)
Russian cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov uses a sat phone shortly after landing near Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan Monday, April 10, 2017, on the treeless Central Asian steppes Russia's Soyuz MS-02 space capsule carrying the International Space Station (ISS) crew of Andrei Borisenko and Sergey Ryzhykov of Russia and NASA astronaut Robert Shane Kimbrough landed in a remote area in Kazakhstan. (Kirill Kudryavtsev/Pool photo via AP)



MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian cosmonaut who has returned to Earth after a mission on the International Space Station said on Wednesday he had taken a relic of a Russian Orthodox saint with him.

Astronauts and cosmonauts routinely take small items such as their children's toys or CDs with them as reminders of home.

Sergei Ryzhikov told Russian news agencies that he would give the tiny relic of St. Serafim of Sarov's body, which he received from its home monastery last year, to an Orthodox church in Star City outside Moscow, home to the cosmonaut training center.

Serafim of Sarov, one of Russia's most revered saints known for his hermit lifestyle, died in the early 19th century.

Ryzhikov, who landed with two other crew members on Monday after six months in space, said he would celebrate the relic's return at a church service in Star City on Thursday.

"We always wait for some sort of miracle but the fact that a piece of the relics traveled to the orbit and blesses everything onboard and outside, including our planet is a big miracle in itself," he said.

Space exploration in atheist Soviet society was often portrayed as debunking the existence of God. Russia has since experienced a religious revival, with the overwhelming majority of Russians now identifying themselves as Russian Orthodox.

In what would have seemed an absurdity to fiercely atheist Soviet space pioneers, Soyuz spacecraft are now routinely receive blessings by Orthodox priests before launch, and Russian cosmonauts have put up small icons at the Space Station. Cosmonauts have taken tiny relics of at least six Orthodox saints and a piece of the Holy Cross into space with them.

Russia celebrates the Space Day on April 12, exactly 56 years after Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space.


https://www.yahoo.com/news/russian-cosmonaut-says-taken-relics-saint-space-115248274.html (https://www.yahoo.com/news/russian-cosmonaut-says-taken-relics-saint-space-115248274.html)