Russian Church of St Nicholas the Wonderworker consecrated in Limassol

DECR Communication Service, 20/05/2024

On 19^th May 2024, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, who is visiting Cyprus with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, took part in the celebrations on the occasion of the consecration of the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Limassol, built for the needs of the local Russian-speaking community.

Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk officiated at the great consecration of the church. Praying with him were Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol and Metropolitan Timotheos of Bostra, Exarch of the Most Holy Sepulchre in Cyprus.

Then the three hierarchs celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the newly consecrated church.

Concelebrating with the archpastors were Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk, DECR deputy chairman; Archpriest Pavel Povalayev, rector of St. Nicholas Church in Limassol; Priest Nikolai Vasin, assistant to the DECR chairman; as well as the clergy of the Russian Church and the Church of Cyprus.

The liturgical languages were Greek, Church Slavonic and Arabic.

Attending the divine service were Mr Murat Ziazikov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Cyprus, and numerous Russian-speaking residents of Cyprus.

After the Liturgy, Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol delivered a homily, in which he gave thanks to God the Lord and St. Nicholas the Wonderworker for the successful completion of the years-long construction works. The hierarch also conveyed his profound gratitude to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia for his unfailing attention over the years to the construction of the church and for sending a high-ranking delegation led by the DECR chairman to its consecration. Metropolitan Athanasios expressed his firm belief that the newly consecrated church would unite believers of different nationalities in prayers and sacraments and thus help strengthen the unity of Orthodoxy.

Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk thanked Metropolitan Athanasios for taking paternal care of the Russian-speaking flock in Limassol. As the DECR chairman noted, the Russian-speaking believers, in response, genuinely love and revere Metropolitan Athansios for, among other things, his firm adherence to the holy canons of the Church. The DECR chairman expressed gratitude to numerous donators who contributed to the construction of the church and to its rector, Archpriest Pavel Povalayev, for his work, wishing him God’s help in his further pastoral ministry. Metropolitan Anthony read out a Patriarchal decree awarding Father Pavel with the Order of St. Seraphim of Sarov, 3^rd class, and handed over to him the high decoration and a pectoral cross. Among those who received Patriarchal awards were also benefactors who had helped to build the church.

In prayerful commemoration of the great consecration, Metropolitan Anthony presented an altar cross as a gift for the church. The DECR chairman also presented a holy panagia to Metropolitan Athanasios.

The Liturgy was followed by a festive reception in the parish house of St. Nicholas Church.

***

The Parish of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Limassol was founded in 1995 with the blessing of Metropolitan Chrysanthos of Limassol in response to a request of numerous believers from Russia and former USSR countries. Archbishop Chrysostomos I of Cyprus and His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia blessed the idea of building a Russian Orthodox church in Limassol. Metropolitan Athanasios, incumbent ruling hierarch of the Diocese of Limassol who ascended to that see in 1999, provided his full support to the project.

In 1997, the Russian Orthodox Church received a plot of land in Kalogiroi area in Limassol for the construction of the church. Construction works were carried out with the participation of the Foundation for the Construction of St. Nicholas Church.

The foundation stone at the construction site of St. Nicholas Church was consecrated on 9^th June 2012 by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia during his official visit to the Orthodox Church of Cyprus.

The church building in the Russian style was designed by the Vorontsov Architectural Bureau.

The divine services in the parish are celebrated in the Church Slavonic Language in accordance with the liturgical tradition of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Acting in the territory of the church are a Sunday school, a social service and “Sophia” Centre of Religious and Moral Culture whose mission is to uphold the spiritual and moral culture of the Russian-speaking diaspora in Cyprus.