The ceremony took place in the Holy Trinity – St Sergius Lavra today. Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus' Cyril; Metropolitan of Tashkent and Uzbekistan Vincent, the Chairman of the Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna Macarius Fund; and Igor Chursin, Deputy Head of the Federal Communications Agency, took part in the event.
Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna Macarius (Bulgakov) was a sanctifier, an outstanding Russian thinker, theologian, church historian and public figure. He was the author of such multivolume works as
Orthodox Dogmatic Theology and
History of the Russian Church, which systematized all church literature.
In the memory of Metropolitan Macarius and in accordance with his will, the Macarius Prize was established in 1867 in order to “encourage national talents devoted to science and socially useful deeds”. Interrupted by the October Revolution in 1917, the award was re-established in 1997. It is the ultimate prize in the Russian history and the history of the Russian Church nowadays.
The postage stamp features the portrait of Metropolitan Macarius (the fragment of a painting by V.V. Shilov) against the background of the Moscow Kremlin Assumption Cathedral and the Church of the prophet Elijah (Exaltation) in Moscow.
“The postage stamp, a new state sign of postal payment of the Russian Federation, the memory of Metropolitan Macarius is immortalized. Thus, the public will learn of him and his great deeds”, said Mr. Chursin.
Design: M. Bodrova.
Face value: 24.00 RUB.
Size of stamp: 37×50 mm, size of sheet: 168×170 mm.
Form of issue: sheet with illustrated margins of 10 (4×3) stamps and a coupon.
Circulation: 260,000 stamps (26,000 sheets).
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