5. Read these expressions several times till you remember them:

to deliver to — доставлять в

to take a lot work and efforts — занимать много работы и усилий

to leave for — отправляться в

6. Match the English words with their Russian equivalents:

1. a masterpiece 2. spiritual 3. an ark 4. a jewel 5. a thread of pearls 6. a crossing 7. an inscription 8. a trace 9. a grave 10. millennium

а. могила b. надпись с. нитка жемчуга d. след е. шедевр f. ковчег g. перекрестье h. тысячелетие i. драгоценный камень j. духовный

7. Combine the words with the help of the preposition of:

1. a spiritual relic 2. the front side 3. the image 4. the fathers 5. the Cross 6. the director 7. the celebration 8. a member 9. drops 10. the capital

a) Belarus b) the Belarusian Union of artists c) the Belarusians d) the millennium of Polotsk diocese e) St. Evfrosinya Polotskaya f) the church g) the museum h) Jesus Christ i) the Cross j) blood

8. Give the comparative and superlative degree of the following adjectives:

Ancient, small, significant, expensive, exclusive, long.

9. Give the three forms of the following verbs:

To say, to make, to keep, to cover, to be, to attach, to write, to sign, to de­mand, to sacrifice, to move, to find, to pass, to begin, to place.

10. Give the plural of:

Relic, masterpiece, patron, evangelist, apostle, effort.

11. Write the derivatives of the following words:

A jewel, enamel, spirit, a cross, heaven, a house, a part, to appear.

12. These words can be used both as verbs and nouns. Make up your own sentences to show the difference in their usage:

Cross, cover, part, sign, place.

13. Read these expressions and find their English equivalents in the text:

Верхнее перекрестье; основание сделано из кипариса; небесные покровителизаказчицы и её родителей; давать благословление; выгравировать надпись; боковые пластины; финотдел; празднование тысячелетия Полоцкой епархии.

14. Read the text and get ready to speak about the Cross of St. Evfrosiniya Polotskaya:

The spiritual relic of the belarusians

...A unique masterpiece of the ancient Belarusian art of enameling, a monument of the 12,h century's written language; a religious and spiritual relic of the Belarusians. All this can be said about the Cross of St. Evfrosiniya Polotskaya.

The Cross was made in 1161 by a jeweler from Polotsk, Lazarus Bdgsha, by request of Evfrosiniya, the abbess of Polotsk, and was used as an ark for keeping Christian relics. The Cross has 6 ends, its height is about 52 centimeters, the length of the upper crossing is 14 centimeters, and the length of the lower crossing is 21 centimeter. The basis is made of cypress tree, from above and below it is covered with 21 golden plates with jewels, ornament and 20 silver plates, covered with gold; a thread of pearls decorates the edge of the front side, of the Crqss. On the top ends of the Cross there are images of Jesus Christ, St. Virgin Mary, John the Baptist. In the center of the lower crossing there are four evangelists, on the ends there are archangels Michael and Gabriel. In the heel of the Cross, right after the crossing there are heavenly patrons of the customer and her parents: St. Evfrosiniya of Alexandria, St. Martyr George and St. Sophia. Two smaller crosses are attached to the upper crossing (a small 4-ended cross) and to the lower crossing (a 6-ended cross). On the backside of the Cross there are images of the fathers of the church: St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory Nazianzin (Theologian), apostles Peter and Paul, St. Stephen, St. Dimitry, St. Pantheleimone.Above each icon there are inscriptions written both in Greek and Slavic letters.

In the middle of the Cross, in five square housings there were religious relics: pieces of the Lord's Cross with drops of His blood, a part of a stone from St. Virgin Mary's grave, particles of the relics of St. Stephen and St. Pantheleimone, blood of St. Dimitriy. These sacred relics were delivered to Polotsk by a special expedition, which was sent to Byzantium by St. Evfrosiniya.

The creation of all these elements took a lot of work and efforts and demanded such significant material means, that the reverend customer-gave her blessing to engrave an inscription on the lateral plates of the Cross; this inscription told, by whose diligence, for what church the Cross was made and how much it cost. Sometimes well-known princes sacrificed very expensive things for temples, but there was nothing equal to the Cross of St. Evfrosiniya Polotskaya.

The destiny of this exclusive Christian relic is also unique. At first the Cross u-was kept in the church of abbess Evfrosiniya. In the 13th century the princes of Smolensk, who captured Polotsk, conveyed the Cross to Smolensk. But later the Cross was moved to other places. In 1841, after a long stay in Moscow and St. Petersburg the Cross was delivered to Polotsk. Here the Orthodox relic was kept for almost 90 years.

In 1928 the director of the Belarusian state museum left for Polotsk with the expedition, the purpose of which was to find the relic. The Cross was found in a local finance department and then it was conveyed to Minsk. In those years it was planned to transfer the capital of Belarus to Mogilev. So, the Cross of St. Evfrosiniya Polotskaya appeared there in 1929. During the Great Patriotic War the Cross disappeared without leaving a trace. AH further efforts to find it didn't give any result.

Years have passed. During the celebration of the millennium of Polotsk dio­cese and the Orthodox Church in Belarus (1992) it was decided to reconstruct the great Orthodox relic. A Belarusian jeweler, and enameller, a member of the Belarusian Union of artists, Nikolay Petrovich Kuzmich was given a commission to reconstruct the sanctuary.

Five years have passed since the beginning of the reconstruction work upon the relic. In 1997 the reconstructed Cross of St. Evfrosiniya Polotskaya was con­secrated in St. Simon's cathedral of Brest, and then placed in the Church of the Lord's Transfiguration in the Saviour and Evfrosiniya's monastery of Polotsk.