the Cathedral of Christ the Savior – you will not be disappointed, dear Comrade.»
«…»
«It is very much confirmed.»
«…»
«We have to dig up all the corpses, open the crypts, tomb after tomb…»
«…»
«I think it is there, in their Russian graves, which they continue to hold on to…»
«…»
«And if not, then what?»
«…»
«Are you kidding me?»
«…»
«What about Koba?»
«…»
«Koba is a piece of shit? You better be quiet…»
«…»
«Let’s first close this damn church, I mean, close it and check every single…»
«…»
«If not… hold off blowing it up!»
«…»
«Will you sign the order?»
«…»
«Koba? Don’t joke!»
«…»
«Sovnarkom10… Alright, understood. With your signature…»
«…»
«I don’t see any other way… We need this black rock of the proletariat like never before. That’s right, for our fight, and especially right now!»
«…»
«I think it would be prudent to engage Comrade Tukhachevsky if we find our black ball…»
«…»
«Yes, I will contact you.»
***
DECREE
Analyze all possible instance where the «Trigger» case intersects with the former Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow as soon as possible. Report directly!
Ilichev
***
Memorandum from GRU Major S.S. Solomakhin
Comrade General,
At your request, we have compiled a dossier on the history of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior (CCS) from the archives of the Moscow Patriarchate and the State University. We have identified possible linkages of the CCS and its servants to the object of our interest. We are continuing to find and analyze documents from the archives of the Imperial Intelligence Service and the pre-revolutionary Moscow Detective Department.
***
Research based on the Moscow Patriarchate’s archives
The Cathedral of Christ the Savior was built in gratitude for God’s blessing in a critical period in Russian history, as a monument to the courage of the Russian people in the fight against Napoleon’s invasion in 1812.
When the last soldier of Napoleon’s 600,000-strong army was expelled from Russia’s borders on December 25, 1812, Emperor Alexander I signed a Supreme Manifesto on the construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior to commemorate the victory. The Emperor also issued a «Supreme Decree to the Holy Synod to establish annual festivities on each 25th of December to commemorate the deliverance of the Church and the Russian power against the invasion of the Galls, and with them, their polluted language»:
«Upon the Emperor’s conception, a grandiose cathedral-monument was to be built on the ruins of the ancient capital. This idea was laid out in the Supreme Manifesto: «In preservation of the eternal memory of the matchless zeal, fidelity and love of Faith and Fatherland exemplified by the Russian people in these difficult times, and to mark our gratitude to Divine Providence for saving Russia from an impending doom, we set out to build our Church in the name of Christ the Savior in the City of Moscow.
God bless our endeavors! Let this Church stand for many centuries and let the incense of appreciation burn before the holy throne of God as new generations revere and adulate the feats of their ancestors!»
The idea of building a memorial church belonged to General Mikhail Ardalionovich Kikin and was handed over to Alexander I by Admiral Alexander Semyonovich Shishkov. Articulated in the czar’s Manifesto, the idea of building a memorial church received the most enthusiastic support from all layers of Russian society, which was unusual for its time.
On October 12, 1817, five years after the retreat of the French army from Moscow, the ground-breaking ceremony of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior took place on the Sparrow Hills, between the Smolensk and Kaluga roads. However, after the death of Alexander I, the new czar of Russia, Nicholas I, ordered to suspend all work and construction was halted in 1826.
From the Moscow Police Department archives, we found that «before the decision to cease construction, there was a secret meeting between the English and French envoys to the Emperor Nicholas I, where, to our knowledge, the choice of a new location for the erection of the Cathedral was discussed. After meeting with the foreign guests, the Emperor came out anxious and not depressed as usual. The English and French envoys were in a very jovial disposition. By the czar’s personal decree, they had established a special group that meticulously studied new locations for the cathedral, in accordance with the rules of terrestrial and maritime navigation, with all possible equipment and tools.
On April 10, 1832, Emperor Nicholas I approved a new plan of the Cathedral, compiled by architect K.A. Thon. The Emperor himself chose the place for the construction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior based on the group’s findings. It would be on the banks of the Moscow River, not far from the Kremlin, and at the expense of numerous buildings that had to be destroyed, including the Alekseyev Monastery and Church of All Saints.
According to eyewitnesses, the Emperor mentioned many times that he needed to build the biggest church in Russia for her full recovery, prosperity, and to elevate its status as the most powerful empire of the existing world. This cathedral should be built in one of the most populous cities in the Russian Empire, so that at any given time there will be no fewer faithful worshippers attending than in the Vatican or Mecca.
To our knowledge, there were several more meetings with the envoys, at one of which Nicholas I was given an object that he would keep in his personal safe box at his summer residence. On September 10, 1839, a solemn groundbreaking ceremony of the new Cathedral took place with the Emperor in attendance and laying the first stone. The black, round cobblestone was personally brought to the ceremony by the Emperor in a cardboard box. It is noteworthy that when the digging of the construction pit began, the black stone was not found. It disappeared without
Council of People’s Commissars
