Sunday, January 23, 2011

Strasbourg to get its first Orthodox temple (Contribution)

The first and only Russian Orthodox Church will soon open doors in Strasbourg, France.

The Church of All Saints, to appear on 1.2 acres of picturesque land overlooking a local Rhine-bound canal, will be just a few short minutes’ walk from the city’s central Orangerie Park and the headquarters of the Council of Europe and the European Parliament.

The design of the would-be temple, by a St. Petersburg-based architect Yuri Kirs, has already received a nod from Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill. Yuri says that will temple combine elements of traditional Russian and West European architecture.

I hope that even though this is going to be a 100-percent Russian Orthodox church, it will serve a connecting link between Russian and European culture. 

Russians living abroad see a church as part of their native country, that’s why they are going for the traditional Russian design. 

The new church, to accommodate some 400 worshippers, will become a meeting place for members of the city’s Russian expat community.

Yuri Kirs has already designed about a dozen churches, both in Russia and beyond. One is as far away as in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Patriarch Kirill consecrated it four years ago, before he became Patriarch, Yuri continues. 

Dedicated to St. Sergius of Radonezh, it features the traditional, five-dome, Russian pattern.

The Russian Orthodox parish in Strasbourg has been around since 2004. Even though the local Russian community numbers just a few thousand, the existing temple is too small to accommodate all those willing to say their prayers there. 

During big Orthodox holidays they even had to lease local Roman Catholic and Protestant temples to cunduct joint liturgies.

During Patriarch Alexy II’s visit to Strasbourg in 2007 the local Russian priests asked City Hall to allot them a plot of land for a Russian church. 

They argued that, being a city of many religions with a veritable galaxy of Protestant and Catholic churches, mosques and synagogues, Strasbourg does not have a single Russian Orthodox temple there.

Father Superior of the local Russian parish, Hegumen Filaret, who is also a representative of the Moscow Patriarchate at the Council of Europe,  is confident that a Russian church and a religious and cultural center that comes with it, will add luster to the old European city and serve an impressive testament to the rich cultural traditions of the Russian Orthodox Church in Western Europe.

SIC: VOR/EU