Icon presented to church

Taraz, January 08, 2010 (Khabar) - On the Eve of Orthodox Christmas, a student of local history from Taraz, Yerbolaat Baimurzin presented the local Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God with an icon of Reverend Peter who lived in the 13th century. However, the icon does not depict Reverend Peter himself but Dair Kaidagul, a nephew of the Khan of the Golden Horde, Bereke who also lived in the 13th century. In his teen age, he heard some tales by Bishop Kirill about the Golden Horde and asked the prelate to take him along to Rostov. There, the khan’s nephew was baptized and named Peter. Later on, he became one of the most honoured saints. Two years ago, the Taraz student of local history, Yerbolat Baimurzin read an article about this in one of the Russian newspapers; he set himself the task of finding the proof of such a fact.

Yerbolat Baimurzin, president, Olketanu Public foundation:
- Some specialists from the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Science carried out the research and they made some important scientific discoveries. In particular, we managed to find several burial places, which, according to anthropologists, are similar to those of Mongoloid type. So, we may say that these are likely the remains of Reverend Peter - Dair Kaidagul and his sons.

During the excavations, archeologists also found four Byzantine coins including gold and silver ones. According to the legend, apostles Peter and Paul gave those coins to the Khan’s nephew so he could build a monastery. The research is still underway which is for Yerbolat, founded two history and culture heritage foundations called Astana and Eurasia in the city of Rostov.