On the 4th Week after Pentecost, on June 28, 2026, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia arrived in Tula, where he celebrated the rite of the great consecration of the Assumption Cathedral of the Tula Kremlin and the Divine Liturgy in the newly consecrated church.
His Holiness was co-served by the clergy of the Archdiocese of Tula and Moscow. Abbesses and nuns of women's monasteries of the Tula Archdiocese prayed in the cathedral.
The service was broadcast live on the Soyuz, Spas and First Tula TV channels, as well as on the official website of the Russian Orthodox Church. Патриархия.ги . Some of the faithful prayed during the Liturgy, watching the broadcast on large screens installed on the square in front of the cathedral.

At the special litany, special petitions were offered, and the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church read a prayer for Holy Russia.
The sermon before Communion was delivered by Bishop Feodorit of Vienna.
At the end of the Liturgy, Metropolitan Alexy of Tula and Ephraim greeted His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and presented His Holiness with the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God.
The Primate of the Russian Church addressed the participants of the divine service with a Primatial address.
His Holiness gave the icon of the Mother of God "The Sign" as a gift to the Assumption Cathedral. In gratitude to Metropolitan Alexy of Tula for his efforts for the benefit of the Holy Church, His Holiness the Patriarch presented a commemorative cross and panagia. The Primate conveyed the Holy Gospels to the churches of the Tula diocese.
Then the presentation of church awards took place in recognition of the work and assistance in the restoration of the Assumption Cathedral of the Tula Kremlin.
All participants of the service were presented with icons of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Patriarchal blessing.
***
The Assumption Cathedral of the Tula Kremlin is an outstanding monument of Russian architecture of the 60s of the XVIII century. A comprehensive phased restoration of the cathedral has been carried out since 1966. The second stage of restoration has been carried out since 2001 under the federal target program "Culture of Russia". The final stage of the restoration was carried out in preparation for the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Tula Kremlin at the expense of the federal budget.
The artistic painting of the Tula Assumption Cathedral is the only work of the icon painting workshop of Afanasy Andreevich Shustov that has been preserved in this volume. The cathedral was painted in two summers in 1765 and 1766 by an artel of Yaroslavl craftsmen under the direction of Shustov using the technique of tempera glue painting. The historical and cultural value of this painting goes beyond regional significance and is of high artistic importance for Russian art culture as a whole.
Artistic paintings cover the walls, pillars, vaults and drums of the cathedral. The iconographic program of the wall painting covers a cycle of biblical and evangelical events with the inclusion of rare subjects in the painting.
The central motif of the painting is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The system of murals includes images of seven Ecumenical Cathedrals on the northern and southern walls, as well as a cycle of gospel parables. The four scenes from the Old Testament book "The Song of Songs", placed on the western wall, have a deep philosophical and theological meaning. The four compositions of this cycle depicted on the western wall have no analogues in Russian church painting.
Of historical value is a rare iconographic text on the door slope of the northern wall, which contains the names of 36 artists who performed paintings. This fragment of wall painting is an important historical document and a kind of signature of artists whose fame has not faded after centuries.
The photographer is Oleg Varov.