Minsk, August 3, 2021

Photo: church.by     

On the feast of the Prophet Elijah yesterday, the foundation of a new Old Rite parish named for the great Old Testament saint was consecrated in Minsk.

The service was celebrated by His Eminence Metropolitan Benjamin of Minsk together with Igumen Peter (Vasiliev), the rector of the Edinoverie Old Rite Church of St. Nicholas in Moscow and spiritual father for Old Rite communities in Belarus, and local Minsk priests, reports the Belarusian Church.

Photo: church.by     

The land for the complex, including a church and Sunday School, was allocated by the state in 2016. It is intended that the complex will become a center for Belarusian Old Believers, who, for now, pray in house churches.

At the end of the rite of consecration, Vladyka Benjamin addressed the faithful with an archpastoral word and spoke with the parishioners.

Photo: church.by     

The community of the Prophet Elijah has existed in Minsk since 1998, originally as part of the Pomorian Old Orthodox Church—a branch of priestless Old Believers. In 2005, the community decided to restore the priesthood, and the next year, it was received by the Holy Synod of the Belarusian Orthodox Church as an Old Rite parish of the Minsk Diocese.

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