The first "Orthodox Church" in a
university will open in Novgorod, north of Moscow, the Provincial
Cultural Committee announced.
The Church of the Presentation of the Lord
will be returned to the Moscow Patriarchate 80 years after it was
seized.
A major example of ancient Russian architecture, the church was built
between 1533 and 1535.
It was closed in the 1930s and converted into a
gym for Novgorod State University.
"Following a meeting between Metropolitan Lev of Novgorod and Staraya
Russa and Rector Viktor Veber, it was decided that the building would
become the first university church," the Committee's website said.
The first religious service in decades will be held on 7 December
with professors and students in attendance on the day dedicated to the
memory of Yaroslavl the Wise who unified early Russia into a single
state in the 11th century.
The university has already started to raise funds to pay for repairs and restoration of the old place of worship.
At the end of 2010, Russia adopted a law for the "restitution of religious property nationalised by the state."
Catholic Church leaders objected to the law, saying it was discriminatory.
Under the new law, federal, regional and municipal governments
holding assets nationalised during after the October Revolution (1917)
have to transfer or grant for free such assets for specific time to
religious organisations.