Putin gives church Russia’s most important icon after ‘numerous requests’

Russian President Vladimir Putin has given the Russian Orthodox Church possession of the country’s most valuable religious icon.

Putin gifted the icon – Andrei Rublev’s “Trinity” – to the care of the Moscow Patriarchate, the church announced Monday.

It depicts the three angels that visited Abraham in the Book of Genesis seated at a table and in conversation. 

Russian Patriarch Kirill, a close personal ally of Putin and head of the nation’s Orthodox Church, said it was given to the church after “numerous requests.”

EU READYING SANCTIONS ON RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH LEADER KIRILL, CALLS HIM A ‘LONG-TIME ALLY’ OF PUTIN

An Orthodox believer leaves The Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra in Sergiyev Posad, one of Russia’s most significant Orthodox monasteries, on Jan. 26, 2018. (Mladen Antonov/AFP via Getty Images)

The venerated icon will now be displayed at Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow.

It will then be moved to its long-term home at the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius in Sergiyev Posad, one of Russia’s most significant Orthodox monasteries.

Russia’s Kirill has voiced support for Putin and even went as far as to justify the invasion of Ukraine as a war against sinful living and in response to the “extermination” of Donbas separatists.

Fox News Digital’s Lawrence Richard contributed to this report.