ROAC (RPAT) Church opened near Moscow
DESPITE INTENSIFICATION OF PERSECUTION, RPATs MANAGED TO CONSECRATE NEW CHURCH IN MOSCOW SUBURB
Portal-credo.ru, 9 June 2008
http://portal-credo.ru/site/print.php?act=news&id=63180
The ritual of consecration of a newly constructed church building to St. Kseniia of Petersburg in the Moscow suburban settlement of Novaia Kupavna (Nogin region), a procession of the cross, and the divine liturgy within it were performed on 7 June by the chancellor of the Bishops' Council of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church (RPATs), Archbishop of Borisov and Otradna Feodor Gineevsky. As a "Portal-credo.ru" correspondent reports, special attention to this event on the part of the clergy and laity of RPATs is connected to the fact that construction and consecration of the church occurred under circumstances of the intensification of discrimination against the adherents of RPATs, while the authorities of Vladimir province went to court with a demand to strip the church of all of its 14 "historic" church buildings in Suzdal, where the ecclesiastical administrative center of RPATs is located.
The parish of St. Kseniia of Peterburg in the village of Novaia Kupavna was registered by the Department of Justice of Moscow province on 14July 2002. Its rector Priest Andrei Valevsky conducted the construction of the church and other church buildings on a private plot, although the authorities of Nogin region tried, by administrative and judicial means, to prevent him, charging first that the paperwork for the parcel of land was illegal and then that construction violated architectural regulations (in the opinion of a number of Russian bureaucrats, citizens of RF do not have the right to build on their own personal plots structures that are equipped for worship). Because of numerous inspections and foot-dragging construction lasted for six years.
The church is made of white stone in an ancient Russian architectural style. The churchyard contains the church building and a chapel. Inside the church the premises are rather roomy; the interior is decorated with multi-tiered iconostasis in baroque style with gold leaf; the choir is located on the sides; and the church has good acoustics.
Among the clergy concelebrating with Archbishop Feodor were the dean of the Moscow district of RPATs Archpriest Mikhail Ardov, and clergy from Moscow, Volgograd, and Suzdal. Bishop of Tula and Briansk Irinarkh was among the worshippers. After greeting the clergy and laity, many of whom came from Moscow, Archbishop Feodor relayed to them the blessing of first hierarch of RPATs Metropolitan Valentin, and he encouraged them, despite the persecution, not to weaken in their efforts to decorate the church well.
After a service of more than four hours, all attenders were invited to a feast under the open sky. (tr. by PDS, posted 9 June 2008)
