Underwater archaeologists working on Volkhov River in Veliki Novgorod have found a huge 12th century stone with a cross, which disappeared in the 1960s.
      
      The researchers assume it is this stone that was mentioned in the chronicle of the St. George's (Yuriev) Monastery as a boundary showing the monastery’s territory, as far back as the 1130s. The stone is also mentioned in documents of the 1620s as an indicator of the monastery’s fishing areas.
      
      “It is difficult to say why the stone submerged. Perhaps the reason for it was the immense flood of 1966, when ice blockages and spring waters undermined the river banks and dragged the stone to the riverbed. And it is there, about 35 meters away from the bank, at a 2-meter depth” - archaeologists say.
      
      In the near future the stone will be hoisted from the bottom and set up on the spot of the former St. Panteleimon Cathedral.
      
      Source: interfax-religion.ru