Minsk, July 16, 2019
Just a few days before his feast day, a new church in honor of St. Eugene Botkin, the loyal physician of the Royal Martyrs who went to death with them, was consecrated in Minsk.
The great consecration of the Church of the Holy Martyr Eugene Botkin and Divine Liturgy were celebrated by His Eminence Metropolitan Pavel of Minsk and Zaslavl on Saturday, the feast of the Synaxis of the Glorious and All-Praised Apostles, reports the press service of the Belarusian Orthodox Church.
The service was attended by a number of clergy and faithful and Church and state figures. Following the Divine Liturgy, Met. Pavel presented Church awards to the builders and benefactors of the new church.
The rector was also presented with an altar Gospel, given by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia for newly-consecrated churches of the Belarusian Church.
Met. Pavel congratulated all those gathered for the consecration of the church and addressed them with an archpastoral word of edification. Icons of the holy and righteous Martyr Eugene were also distributed to all present.
St. Eugene was canonized as Righteous Eugene the Passion-Bearer by the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church at their February 2-3, 2016 session. His glorification was celebrated on February 7, the day of the feast of the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russian Church, in the Ekaterinburg Church on the Blood, built on the site of the Ipatiev House, where St. Eugene was martyred along with the Royal Family.
St. Eugene was also canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia along with the Royal Martyrs in 1981. The Royal Family was canonized by the Moscow Patriarchate in 2000, though St. Eugene was not canonized at that time.
The first church in honor of St. Eugene was consecrated in Moscow in 2016. Churches in his honor are also under construction in St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and two in the Ekaterinburg Diocese.
There are also plans to build a boulevard in St. Eugene’s honor in Ekaterinburg.
Follow us on Facebook!
