"July 10
The Placing of the Honorable Robe of Lord Jesus Christ, Which is a Tunic (chiton), Reigning in the City of Moscow
According to tradition and mentioned in the Gospels (Mt. 27:25; ?k. 15:24; Lk. 2?:34; Jn. 19:23-24) the robe of the Savior, after His crucifixion on a cross, was won by lot by the warrior Elioz who brought it to his native city of Mtskheta in Georgia. His sister Sidonia, having heard about Jesus Christ's death and about the participation of Elioz in spilling His blood with horror, took the robe and there she died. No one could remove the remove the chiton of the Lord from the dead one and is why she was buried together with it. Subsequently St. Nina (see Jan. 14), according to an instruction from above, found the place where the robe of the Lord was hidden. On this place the Georgian King Mirian built a magnificent temple in the name of 12 Apostles where the holy robe was kept. In the 17th century the Persian Shah Abbas, who conquered Georgia, took the robe of the Lord together with other jewelry. Wishing then to establish friendship with Tsar Michael Fedorovich, the Shah sent him and Patriarch Philaret the robe of the Lord with other objects as a gift in 1625. The authenticity of this robe has been certified by Nectarius, Archbishop of Vologda (formerly from Greece), Joannicus, a Greek and Theophanes, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and in particular by the wonderful signs revealed by the Lord when the robe was placed on the ill. Now two parts of the robe of the Lord are in St. Petersburg: one in the Court Cathedral, the other in the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, another part is kept in the Dormition Cathedral in Moscow. Many healings were performed from them. The particle of the robe of the Lord is still kept in the Kievan Saint Sophia Cathedral, in the St. Hypatius (Ipatievskom) Monastery (see the Kostroma Diocese) and in some other of our ancient temples. According to a pious custom, the slightest particle from the robe of Christ from old times is separated for carrying on the breast of each newborn member of the Reigning House in Russia. Kept in the Moscow Dormition Cathedral the holy item, on the day of its celebration, is solemnly taken out from the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul Chapel where it is kept to the analogion for veneration during the All Night Vigil, and after the Liturgy it is again placed in the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul Chapel. Calling the faithful to venerate the robe of the Savior, the Holy Church in the service of this day solemnly proclaims, that this "honorable robe of Christ our God" is "the chiton, pouring out for us plentiful streams of wonders, and washing darkened hearts, and by divine grace removing filthy passions", that this "honorable robe" is the "cloth of healing", "the fountain pouring out grace of ever living water", and that in this "divine robe the Master Christ granted to the city of Moscow integral wealth: protection and glory and an impenetrable wall, both an ever-flowing treasury of healing and a source of wonders: always a safe haven from storms". Together with the robe of the Lord in the service on this day, the Veneration of the Life-creating Cross of the Lord as well as the placing of the robe in the Dormition Cathedral was also performed on March 27, 1625, which at that time was the Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross 1)."
