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Another sacred place, perhaps the holiest in all of Russia is Serghjiev Posad, 70 km from Moscow. It is the monastery of San Giorgio. In the past it was thought that being buried could mean the forgiveness of all sins. Obviously the monks granted the privilege in exchange for princely donations so as to own 17,000 farms and an income equal to that of the Tsars. The surrounding wall is about a kilometer long, and is surrounded by ten towers, outside beggars and stalls as in all places of great popular influx. Inside, a series of buildings, a sacred source, some churches, a cathedral, the tomb of Boris Gudonov and the Metropolitan's palace. It is extraordinary how the Orthodox Church has risen intact after decades of atheist dictatorship and the prohibition of all forms of worship. Today more than ever he would repeat Carlo Marx is "The opium of the peoples". Here too, golden domes, high bell towers and lots and lots of people queuing up in order to reach the tomb of San Sergio to draw water from the miraculous spring. The Treasury building is closed, the Church of Our Lady of Smolensk is a souvenir shop, half of the complex is off-limits to visitors, the 88-meter bell tower is caged. We enter the Cathedral of the Assumption: photography prohibited, filming prohibited. It is dominated by the usual five domes, one golden and four blue with gold stars, the interior is completely frescoed and the sumptuous iconostasis dates back to 1600. In fact, an orderly and very long line of faithful discourages everyone in the Trinity Cathedral, which is a pity because it is the oldest and was one of the first churches in Russia to have an iconostasis.