Cincture of the Theotokos

[1] According to the Sacred Tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Church, at the time of her Dormition, the Theotokos was buried by the Twelve Apostles in Jerusalem.

This relic was embroidered with gold thread by the Empress Zoe (d. 899), the wife of Emperor Leo VI, in gratitude for a miraculous cure.

During the reign of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (1143–1180) in the 12th century, an official feast day for the cincture was established on August 31 on the Orthodox liturgical calendar.

In St. Petersburg[4] it attracted a 2 km-long line of people to the Resurrection Nunnery on Moskovsky Prospect virtually blocking automotive traffic on adjacent streets,[5] totalling 200,000, with Vladimir Putin being among the first ones.

[6] The next cities were Norilsk (50 thousand, a quarter of Taymyr Peninsula population) and Vladivostok; the relic's further voyage continued until the end of November.

Icon depiction the Theotokos giving her cincture to Thomas the Apostle . Below is a stylized representation of Mary's Tomb , with flowers lying on the sarcophagus .
Placing of the Cincture of the Most Holy Theotokos ( Russian icon )
In 2011, pilgrims gather in Ekaterinburg to venerate the Cincture of the Virgin Mary exposed at the city's Trinity Cathedral